Our Marathon Of Life

I heard this line somewhere, it is not by me, and however, it is a good thought. Nobody comes into this world with a broken soul; souls are sometimes broken along the way, but you can make them perfect again and it will be whole. This is a very thought provoking statement and it can be taken several ways. It is thought that all babies come into this world innocent and pure and it is their surroundings and their parents who perhaps turn them into something else. It can be the lack of money in the home that deprives them of material benefits; it can be the lack of good parenting that denies them the love and nourishment they require. I have seen in my life a mother I knew, who did not have the resources to give to her three children the essentials needed to survive. She gave two of the children for their safe keeping to a sister-in-law and brother-in-law for their upbringing and she kept the youngest child to raise herself. Even though she lacked the education and the money to raise the number three child in an advantageous and well to do setting; he turned out very well. He went to school, graduated high school and he went into the Army to gain education benefits and other ones too. He survived and became a fine young man even though his living way was not the greatest as a young boy, then teen growing up in the not so greatest of areas in the city he lived in. It goes to show, that if you are raised with love, with respect and with honor and he certainly was with the fine Mom he had; that a child can become a good person, who knows right from wrong. He came in this world with a good soul and did not get broken along the way and he remained a whole person. When something bad happens, they always blame the parents and the upbringing or the lack of upbringing the person had. It is usually the mother who gets blamed for her wayward manners and that seems to justify how the child turned out. It is true, we moms and dads are not always responsible for kids who commit bad behavior toward others, but we moms do get blamed. There are more excellent parents around than the opposite. I believe each child who comes into the world is usually wanted and the parents will love him or her. Sometimes, their financial status is not the highest available and the child might not have all the material possessions that the celebrity children have. Even they have problems growing up and becoming and remaining the good soul they were when they entered this world. Good parenting is something we learn as we go along the road to raising our children. I know of someone who adopted a child and he did not turn out so proper and the family said that the parents, who were their relatives, did not really love him and that he felt it and that is why he rebelled. That was not the truth; they did everything they could for the child. It was not them, it was the child. Sometimes this happens with children, whether adopted or not. “Ah how time flies and so we cannot do anything about the past and as you focus on the future, each day becomes that step to the end of the marathon. When I ran my first marathon, it was pretty scary because of not having experienced one before. Even though I was training with the eventual winner, I still had to go through the process one step at a time.” This last paragraph from my dear friend Steven Behr, Sr. who lives in Steilacoom, Washington. He gave me this advice about my aching knee and the procedures and physical therapy; I am going through to heal the knee. He says I must be patient to win the marathon. He is a very tenacious and good soul, we have never met in person, and we are devoted email pals. We met through our mutual love of ballroom dancing and he wrote me an email note about 9 years ago, when he had read my ballroom dance articles in a dance magazine called Amateur Dancers. I thought it very relevant and good guidance and it can be used for many adventures we take in life. Parenting, new jobs, sports, ballroom dancing, health, living each day and aiming to win the marathon as the final goal is our objective. A marathon is endurance and all life is endurance and our goals being met with honest feelings and true devotion. So whatever marathon you are involved in, be it a real marathon, or a marathon of another field, you and I will keep on aiming for the winning sight and as we see this within our reach, we become marathon winners in our mind and soul. elita sohmer clayman