My Achilles

Lessons in humility come like bolts out of the blue.

In the words of Thomas Merton:

“Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.”

The instructions fly suddenly into view (or IPad) and without warning, I drop to my emotional knees,

My Achilles heel, as I have already shared, falls into the category of passwords.

Shortly after and when barely recovered from the last mandate to “Update Password” I received another new one yesterday,

This one (and while I totally comprehend the urgency for security) is even more complicated than the last.

Now the new password must contain 14 letters, rather than 7, as well as no more than two consecutive letters of any family names, and must include both a special character as well as a number. Any old password or variation is, of course, not acceptable.

I don’t weep easily, but the latest mandate I must admit, evoked tears.

I thought briefly about returning to bed and seeking the comfort of dreams.

I also remembered the long ago solace of butter pecan ice cream, particularly Breyers.

And for just a very brief second, I thought about abandoning the internet, but just for a very brief second.

Soon the long remembered words of Thomas Merton came to mind.

Remembering his wisdom, I decided to climb this latest obstacle and/or mountain. Obviously, it was a lesson in humility I needed.

If I do succeed, I may seek out a pint or possibly, even a quart, of the never forgotten butter pecan ice cream.

If I don’t succeed and disappear into the vast whirlpool of those without passwords, please remember I tried.

Until I ran out of letters, numbers, characters, and patience.