Rat Race

Okay, so I picked up this book the other day from Barnes and Noble Quiet Mind One-Minute Retreats from a Busy World. I really loved the piece from today's so I decided to share it with you.

The trouble with the rat races is even if you win, you're still a rat. - Lilly Tomlin

The metaphor of the rat race as a way to talk about the nature of contemporary life is instructive. I wonder about its origin. And just what is a rat race? I picture a maze in some scientific laboratory with a dozen rodents scrambling in all directions, trying with great frustration to find their way to freedom. Is this a rat race? Did anyone tell the rats they were in a race? Is there really a winner in a rat race? 

And that we should choose this metaphor as a way to talk about the way we live our lives is... what? Alarming? "Well, we've got to get going and join the rat race." We do?

The metaphors we use not only reflect the way we live, but create the way we live. If we call life a rat race, it will tend to become one. 

So let's change metaphors. Here are a few suggestions: 

Life is a cat prowl. I envision slow and careful steps, a calm awareness of what is going on in my  neighborhood, and a pace that suits my  needs. 

Life is a dog walk. I move now with lively interest, with stopping and goings, encounters with other dogs, trees, and people, always ready to respond to a friendly petting. 

Life is a fox trot. Here is a bouncy-stepped way to dance through life. Find a partner! You can always sit the next one out. 

Life is a monkey march. Life is a pony canter. Life is a whale breach, Life is a swallow soar. Life is a pig parade. Life is an elephant lope. Life is a bear excursion (the one I'd pick). 

Spend a quiet time today and pick your metaphor for life's journey. 

Kundtz, David. Quiet Mind One-Minute Retreats from a Busy World. New York: Bristol Park Books, 2000. 9-10. Print.

Okay, so my personal favorite has got to be Life is a monkey march. I feel like my classroom is a daily jungle. Okay, okay, for those of you who know me and have seen my classroom that is an awful joke, my classroom looks like a jungle. But with 27 second graders, it is definitely full of monkeys. 

Have a wonderful, fabulous, and shining day. Go live life as a Monkey March (or whatever other metaphor suits your need).