Paper thin margin for seeking peace and joy

 THE MARGIN MAY BE PAPER-THIN YET YOU CAN STILL FLY

So on one network there was the NCAA Basketball tournament and some digits up the remote there was something called the ‘what we do when we are roasting hogs and drinking beer” “team” championships—otherwise known as the National  Cornhole Finals.... Now these competitors even had “bag” sponsors with designer bean bags which they tossed with precision strategies among partners.  There was a play by play announcer and an analyst.  Now the toss by toss guy I can understand, however, an analyst?  Did this dude just fall short of  an internship calling the bass masters classic semifinals?  

Anyway, about two rounds in this fierce competition reminded me of several school and parish fun nights where you threw  paper airplanes at a set of cubby holes to see if you could win a toy whistle or maybe a super decoder ring.  I usually won an imported plastic yo-yo with a string that had a knot preventing it from winding properly  or ever returning once  it went spinning.  

Clearly the funnest part of that  content was making and tossing the airplane.  Some. Of my friends and I were fairly adept  at making and tossing these streamlined aircraft as we had practiced with countless mimeographed math worksheets and spelling lists.  

There were times when we were able to fold these thin winged-warriors just right, toss them with just the optional thrust and lift, and get some distance.  Now we never achieved world record distances like the 66 meters that was recorded—we didn’t even know what a meter was  with the exception. Of something you put a dime in to park downtown.  Our planes weren’t  made from titanium or carbon fiber and they were standard sheets of 8x10 unless we had a research project and a few left over  flash or index cards.  That being the case we didn’t approach the  record for the largest plane made because it’s wingspan was some 60 feet and ours was maybe six inches at the widest point.  

Having said this everyone who could get any distance could keep their plane flying three or four seconds not the record  29 seconds and we could get a good six to ten feet or we could get a loop and crash the bomber at our feet.  

So what the heck does this have to do with seeking peace and joy?  

You see to make a smooth flight a productive journey so to speak you had to study the conditions around you, watch what your friends were doing and learn from their triumphs and crashes and not push too hard.  Seeking answers and not pushing too hard seems to be a winning combo in many journeys.  Seeeking peace and joy will also likely take a lot of attempts and many of them might be seen by some as “failures” and goodness knows we all crash and burn from time to time.  Yet, if we stay focused on what is happening right now and if we  don’t worry too much about what’s might happen four tosses from now we just might take the old utility bill, fold it so that  the nose cuts channels back creating  vertical stability and send it six feet into the roaring flames of battle otherwise known as the fire pit that provides a warmth for our welcoming side yard.  

Okay...some of you recycle paper and I appreciate that, however living the same experiences over and over and giving them the same meanings will probably get you shot down more often than Snoopy nailed the Red Baron.  On the other hand if you are persistent and aware you may take the paper-thin moments and fly to places that only you can imagine.  

Have fun with your  yo-yo.