Fourteen words from Ernest Hemingway’s novel “The Sun Also Rises”, reveal a lot about us as humans when it comes to success or failure. When our world collapses, shock typically follows. However, given 20/20 hindsight, when we look back carefully what were the signposts that we ignored along the way? The Brisbane Adventist College (BAC) pens the following:
Once we analyse what led us to this point, we can usually see where we went wrong. The conflicting intentions, the minor procrastination, the blind eyes we turn… Like the cracks and rust on the bridge, they don’t matter the one thousand times we safely cross until one day they do. It's common to the human experience that we’re rarely motivated to act unless a crisis is upon us. We see this over and over in life experiences: studies, businesses, relationships. It’s not until something large and irreversible happens—when we risk losing all—that we feel compelled to act. But often it’s too late. The media talks about the suddenlies. We notice the suddenlies. We comment on the suddenlies. Yet it’s the graduallies that should really take our attention.
Those WAPPA members (like the faculty at BAC) who have participated in the two-day Fierce Conversations workshop know well this phrase, its derivation, its meaning and its implications for living life.
WAPPA Fierce Conversations graduates know my two follow up questions.
|