Monday, December 12, 2011

The Baton as Progenitor ... what a sacred trust!

A progenitor is a person or system the creates a beginning that continues forward or it is a person who originates an artistic, political, or intellectual movement.  Let that sink in for a moment!  In the presentation of a Christmas musical, SEARCHING FOR A KING, at my church this past weekend, I was honored to be part of the presentation.  The drama is a story of young soldier who witnessed the death of his childhood friend from an IED explosion that also killed a little girl he was bent over comforting.  The trauma of the surviving friend was amplified knowing he was faced with returning to civilian life to talk with the killed soldier's mom that had known them both since childhood. Touching? Extremely. As the conclusion of the performance, the mother of the dead soldier is talking with the surviving friend who cannot shake the horror of the realness of the death of his best friend.

The dead soldier's mom asked the surviving soldier if he remembered running the 440 yard relay with her son, which he did.  She asked if he remembered waiting for her son to finish his leg of the race  to hand the young soldier the baton to ignite his leg of the 440 which the soldier, Benji, remembered well. The mom asked the silver bullet question, "well Benji, was the race over then?  Certainly it was not for life goes on until the finish line is crossed. COMPELLING thought isn't it? 

I awoke this morning still affected by the poignancy of that brief few moments and the term progenitor come to my mind as I ready to administer a final examination for the semester this morning in thinking about these lives and the thousands of lives I have been given access to in so many ways through this journey of life.  I looked up the definition of a Progenitor: A person who originates an artistic, political, or intellectual movement.  So I asked myself the rhetorical question then, have I been able to originate an artistic, politic or intellectual movement in these minds and lives God has gathered around me adequately and rightly?  That really changes your sense of worth and value as you ponder the depth of that question doesn't it?

As I near sixty-four years of this journey called life, it is simply astounding at the lives one touches in a very unique manner for, like fingerprints or eyeballs, it is a very indivdual, unique chemistry that is unleashed in that "touch" in the passing of the baton of life from me, having run my leg of the race, and hand it to the generation just beginning their leg of the race!  Wow, that is truly an amazing metaphor but yet, a snapshot of a strong reality isn't it?  So I find myself this morning assessing just what values, learning, hope, tools, desire and belief has been and will continue to be embodied in that paton of life in each of the waiting hands to receive the paton received from me as they seek to win their own race of life?

It is in that context that I am yet again reminded of the potency of the touch of a caring teacher, leader, parent, friend on every life that is brought into the vortex of other's lives on their unique journey.  I guess this weekend with the hours of preparation for the delivery of the musical, having family around me and enjoying memories, the laughter, the warmth that can only come from family, has really taken me to a place I do not visit enough in my heart which is a deep appreciation of family. 

So the question, how would you describe your baton in terms of its worth, its value and capability to alter a wrong path of the waiting runner?  When the level of importance of that touch of the baton on another's life or lives is realized, then the sensitivity and perfection of the hand-off is made more acute thus making me work harder to be, not better, but to seek to be the best I can be for those awaiting that hand-off.  True, I am only one professor in an array of teachers and professors in a student's life but still I am one that is put there for a most unique time in each student's life.  Nothing happens by accident I believe so it is made very real to me that each student that chooses to take the journey of learning with me also shares a common purpose with me. There are no accidents!  That knowledge is simply phenomenal in its gravity for the tomorrows I believe!

By the way, you do not have to carry a title of teacher or professor to pass your baton of learning to others for the world is populated with people yearning to know, to understand, to want a better life.  So my challenge this morning as progenitors, do you realize the sacred nature of running this race of life embodied in the perfect touch and timing of the hand-off of our baton to the generations before us.  When I look at my students, I look at their children and grandchildren for I realized long ago that things that are learned in our own unique way of teaching reaches far beyond that person sitting in that chair for this is a generational hand-off!

THAT is called a phenomental trust to me and I seek God's Will and Blessing with each student and the baton I am challenged to hand-off in hope and belief that each student will finish his or her race well as they prepare that baton for their hand-off that comes all too quickly.

Train well!

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