When I was in catholic school one of the treats I used to get to do was to clean the erasers. I would be sent outside to bang the erasers together or against the wall or if it was a good day I was allowed to use the vacuum to clean the erasers. Chalk flying everywhere and my hands covered. Yes, that’s a thing. And it was a ton of fun.
The chalkboard erasers would get “full”. And so they needed cleaning. The chalk from today needed to be removed from the eraser so that the eraser could…erase tomorrow’s chalk.
The eraser is no good if it is full of chalk. It would just spread yesterday’s chalk all over the board if it wasn’t cleaned.
A “clean slate”. That’s where the phrase comes from. Chalkboards were made of slate.
Sometimes I don’t let yesterday’s chaulk get cleaned and I just spread it around today’s chalkboard. Need to let it go and move on.
Ever just want to erase and start over?
I constantly hear that there is something to learn in everything. I’m not sure there is. Sometimes things are just good…or just bad…
Of all the TV or movie “gadgets” that I wish were real it wouldn’t be Thor’s hammer or Iron Man’s suit it would be the “forgetfulness stick” in Men in Black. When they wanted to forget what had just happened they would push this button and they would forget what happened. That’s the one thing I wish was on Amazon.
I want to erase 2020. Don’t want to learn anything from it, don’t want to find the silver lining…just want to erase it.
I remember one time seeing a picture of a guy rock climbing and he was hundreds of feet in the air and hanging by one hand, no ropes. (Yes, I’m sweating even as I type this…remember, I’m the guy who sweats when Rafiki holds Simba out over Pride Rock)
The caption on that picture said, “Just hang in there”
In 2020 I think that’s victory. It’s like planting your feet against a strong hurricane type wind. Not moving forward, but not moving backward. Just planting your feet and riding out the storm. That to me is victory in 2020.
Now the question…where are my feet planted…
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