Slow and Steady…Wins the Race…

With exams on the horizon and a mild frenzy in the air as assignments are concluded and credits counted…an air of rush and panic is beginning to permeate the atmosphere. At times like these it’s comforting to reflect on those who model wise attributes.

Recently neighbours had a trampoline installed for their children in the back yard…as many households do. To minimize risk to life and limb, they decided to have it dug into their back lawn.

Duly, one 7.30am…a retired gentleman, a past career coalminer, now maintenance man, arrived in said backyard, with a spade.

The simplicity of the image was mesmerising.

Defining the zone, he plied his spade to the ground and began to dig…and he continued to dig…and dig...and dig…

I marvelled at the patience of his method. There was no rush and bluster. No savage and determined attack with sweat, angst or determination, no expulsions of exhausted air…just a slow, persistent rhythm, efficiency, confidence of style and pace, that comes with an assured knowledge, proven by years of experience, of what can be accomplished when you simply ‘do it’.

‘Simply’ was taking on a magnifying importance…

He did not stop digging until 10.30 am…at which time, he looked around the garden and edges of the house…he looked…and looked…

Wondering what was afoot, the neighbour asked what he needed…’A tap.’

‘A tap? …To wash your hands?’

‘No…for a drink of water…’

‘Oh! Do come in …have a cup of tea…or would you rather coffee??’

‘ No. No, thank you …water is just fine; out here…I’d prefer not’.

From the tap he had his drink of water …and supposedly, sufficiently refreshed (not with a bottle and mega stops to swill)…continued…to dig…and dig…slowly descending into the earth; a pile of soil steadily amassing behind him.

What patience, self-control, endurance, and capacity to stay in the ‘now’ had this man come to know in a lifetime of lightless coal pits…?

Apart from a slightly extended ‘water tap performance’ accompanied by his homemade sandwich eaten in his car on the street’ at 12.30 as a ’lunch break’…He took up his spade again and dug his way into the afternoon. At 3.30pm he stopped…

At which time, he stood back and declared the job done.

The trampoline was duly lowered by a group of four adult family members, as the man assisted with his spade to adjust some soil alignment and assure balance.

By 4.30pm the man and the spade, departed the property.

Managing to navigate the demands of this upcoming term, its stresses and squeeze points is not rocket science.

Take it from the many who have gone before you in all walks of life:

plan, pace, persist… Dig in.