On a boring Thursday afternoon waiting for children to come out of school a father thinks vaguely about starting conversation. He asks his daughter to pick out, what she’d like to be when she grows up, “…A scientist, a hairdresser or a teacher?” Without hesitation she answers, “A hairdresser.” Carrying the discussion further, Dad asks, “Okay, what about a choice between a… farmer, a hairdresser, and a beautician?”—as quickly as a bull’s stampede she responds, “Beautician!” It’s a moment dually galvanised as both minds meander vacantly at the possibilities ahead for this eleven year old girl.
When we dare to dream with passion of the unknown we link bold desire with gracious destiny. And this is applicable at any age, not just in childhood. But, we’re ever so sure to forget it in that rut we find ourselves occasionally in.
When Kenneth Koch said,
“You aren’t just the age you are. You are all the ages you ever have been,”
He probably referred to our existential and historical experience all in one. We are more that just simply the person in the vacuum of our present age and stage. We are the product of all that we’ve been and all that we’ve become. Indeed, we’re even more, for even the dreams we have when we sleep sow into the mind subconsciously what lay dormant to the conscious soul. We are so much more than our experience—our potential expands beyond our single conception.
Destiny acquiesces to the want of the human heart. We’re designers of our tomorrows as surely as we live and breathe today. And we could have it all so long as it’s within the bounds of logical reason—could being the operative word.
A world of possibility lays in wait. Any number of potential destinies could end up being lived. And, for that girl who posed life with her father—conjuring the hope that baits the future—her place (and his!) stands before it all. All that possibility and life to look forward to. It’s never too late until it actually is.
© S. J. Wickham, 2009.
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