Quote of the Week...from Steven Spielberg

All of us every single year, we're a different person.  I don't think we're the same person all our lives.
                                                     ---Steven Spielberg

Back in the early years of this blog, I once got into an argument with an old buddy from elementary and high school who strongly differed with my comment that I was the same person that I was when I was 2-3 years old.  He also expressed skepticism that I could remember events going back that far in my own life...making me wonder at what age do different people achieve a sense of self-awareness instead of just plodding on ahead in life as programmed, reactive biological machines: apparently for him it came much later in his own childhood...I wonder whether for some people it ever comes.  The point I was trying to make with my friend wasn't that I didn't learn new things and grow physically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually...we all do that to varying degrees as we experience our lives over the years...but that my sense of singular identity, that "I" that sets me apart from everything else in the universe, was the same back in 1958 as it is now.  But I'm afraid he was unable to receive what I was trying to convey, and that's a shame...

Steven Spielberg's above quote is about the change that is continually going on with us as we live out our lives, not that core sense of identity...or at least I hope that's what he was thinking when he made it.  I personally have two competing factions within me: one part wants to settle into established routines, enough to function in the world and even provide a few relatively comfortable challenges and goals, while another part sees life as more of a smorgasbord of potential experiences that require me jumping out of my comfort zone and pursuing more daunting projects and adventures, some of which by their nature pose risks of failure, humiliation...and even danger.  I think there's a time and place for both inclinations...here is where discernment and wisdom come in.  I'm getting to the stage of my work life in which I need to look ahead to what I'll be doing in retirement...one thing I do know is that I do not want to live it overcautiously, fearing new experiences and growth.  Change is a crucial element of life and as long as I am living, change it will be...but through it all I will always be "myself"...