Amy Seimetz movie, She Dies Tomorrow, which she wrote and directed in late 2019  in many ways seems to have been written for our 2020 pandemic.  The main character Amy, played by Kate Lyn Sheil, is convinced that she is going to die tomorrow.  When she tells her friend Jane, portrayed by Jane Adams, of her fear Jane returns to her home and is suddenly struck with the same dread that she is going to die tomorrow, also.  I do not want to give too much away of a terrific movie regarding an eventuality that we each one are going to face…and our ultimate denial and disbelief that it will happen to us!

So, we often cannot see the forest for the trees.  The petty annoyances of life obscure our vision of the magic and majesty and the shortness and definite end that comes to our golden opportunity…  We go about our daily routines seeking to please people who care little about us and to obtain the physical accoutrements or trophies of what society has told us signify a life well lived.  

I have marveled when considering actors who play villains and evil doers when in reality they are sweet and kind individuals.  Have you ever found yourself reading from a script that you did not write?  We are highly influenced by what the norms of the group that we are affiliated with are.  A telling barometer of whether or not you believe what you are saying regarding a subject is do you have rationale reasons for your verbal commitment…or are you polly parroting what someone else has said?  

I have met countless people who are in careers that we’re picked for them by someone else.  Perhaps you are a school teacher and wanted to work in medicine.  Maybe you are a banker and wanted to be a writer.  Do you hate your job…and yet you are committed to work in the position until your retire?  What a terrible way to spend your precious gift…

Are you a member of a faith community that discourages free thought and expression?  Are you afraid to speak you heart and reveal your thoughts?  What if you discovered that you were going to die tomorrow…would you be happy with the life choices that you have agreed to because someone else picked them for you?

Certainly all of us go along to get along to some extent.  There are rules  in the work-place and laws that must be abided…but is the joy of living being drained from you by allowing another human being to do your thinking for you?

In the movie one of the first effects that each of the characters who discovered that they were going to die tomorrow experienced was that they became brutally honest with those around them.  The understanding that they had only a few hours to live enabled them to voice what they had been keeping bottled-up inside them.  

‘Here. Who’s going to believe Nero played bongos while Rome burned?’

I was never amenable to agreeing with someone with whom I did not agree.  I have observed, for my entire life, and especially when leaders are more worried about their personal financial health, the sound of silence when those who lack courage sit closed mouthed while Nero fiddles as Rome is burning…

“Truly a magnificent emperor! While Rome burns, Nero plays an instrument that hasn’t been invented yet.”

It is another stormy afternoon in Little Egypt.  I just enjoyed a wonderful walk on campus and I am in my customary high spirits that another academic year is to begin next week at Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale!  Indeed we are in the midst of our pandemic, but there are lighthouses that still have their brilliant beacons of hope for the future and they are illuminating our course to keep us from being dashed against the rocky shore!  

Photo by Anand Dandekar on Pexels.com

I am pleased to see the presumptive Democratic nominee for president of the United States chose as his running mate a brilliant and accomplished woman of color!  The choice is historic and is a harbinger of hope that we are a diverse nation that desperately needs a herculean dose of inclusivity!  

I was talking with a good friend recently and I reflected on my leadership goal for the 25 years that I was a manger/administrator at SIUC.  Before I became the assistant superintendent of Building Services I had prided myself on everyone that I met becoming my friend.  After I took a leader’s role in the organization I knew that my primary purpose had to be that I was fair to all…and that I might not be everyone’s buddy.  My greatest honor during my years of managing was to have some role in elevating outstanding members of our team, who were African American and women and disabled,  to leadership roles.  When I was preparing to retire I recommended an African American woman to replace me as superintendent of the department.  And she did… she was the first woman of color to ever hold the position!

Dr. Austin Lane is our new chancellor.  Every time that I see his photo…I am inspired…he is the first African American to hold the chancellors position at SIUC!

I have written about my wonderful experiences with black colleagues…literally from the first day of my employment at Southern.  Each time that a person of color has chosen to accept me as a colleague and to work with and to be my friend…I was humbled by their confidence in me and honored that they accepted me…

Faith is another beacon of hope in a world of seeming despair.  I have often said…can anyone find the church?  Jesus and his 12 disciples were our first example of church.  It appears that on numerous occasions they slept out under the stars…  ‘And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.’    Luke 9:58  KJV

I do know that the church is not equated to the love of money.  It also cannot be led by a person or people who are racist and misogynist…it could not be xenophobic…as Christ admonished us to love each other as he loved us.  

I have often heard that if you want to see God…see your neighbor…

My colleague, Denny, told me many years ago that our careers were a marathon and not a sprint.  I thought about his words and increasingly understood them as the years rolled by.  I recall feeling anxious regarding what I wanted Building Services to accomplish and the time that it was taking to reach that goal.  Having emerged from leadership that was counterproductive and who sought to slow our work product down and for us to produce dirty university buildings…I was convinced that I could not work enough hours to accomplish all that I wanted to do to facilitate the restoration of our departments good name!

Photo by David Dibert on Pexels.com

The television show, Columbo, began in 1968 and was about a somewhat bumbling and disheveled police detective and his seeming ineptitude and lack of focus.  In reality Columbo, played by the actor Peter Falk, was a case study in the art of underestimation.  As he haltingly stumbled and fumbled around a murder case he elicited the response of those whom be was investigating of…suffering a fool…

On numerous occasions I have found myself in the role of Columbo while those with  whom I was dealing with had little appreciation for the method of my madness…  We are members, in good standing, of a frenetic society.  We want to tear down our barns and build bigger ones…right now!  Often the systematic and careful plodding of daily incremental success is eclipsed by the brilliance of lofty rhetoric with little substance…until the turtle is holding the trophy at the finish line of the marathon!

I have found the power of the turtle to be vital in my christian experience.  If all of the exhortations that I have heard in over 51 years had been true…I would still be at the starting gate waiting for the flag to drop.  The christian life…is just that…a life…bells do not ring and God’s plan is much longer than our quite puff of wind of time on the earth.  

‘Then He said, ‘Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.’  And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake, and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.  So it was, when Elijah heard it, the he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave.  Suddenly a voice came to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’    I Kings 19:11-13 

Former first lady, Michelle Obama, said in a podcast the other day that she was suffering from ‘low-grade depression.’  She sited the pandemic, and racial strife and  political strife as causes for her feelings.  

If you encounter several people today and ask them how that are doing it is most likely that they will say fine!  Have you ever tried responding to the proverbial question of how you are doing by explaining how you really are doing?  Did you subsequently watch the eyes of your inquisitor ‘gloss over’ as they waited for you to complete your tale of woe…and then watch them as they quickly move on to a happier person!  The stark reality is that we are not doing fine all of the time and most of us are stressed and depressed and seeking answers for a health emergency that has rocked our planet…  Millions of Americans were food insecure prior to the pandemic…and then lost their jobs due to the virus.  ‘For the 108 million people who live in a rental apartment, August 1 was a grim milestone.  It marked the first time rent was due after much of the nation’s economic response to the coronavirus had expired.’   New York Times

Pastor Kerry told us this morning in Zoom Church that we can  ‘drive the delivery truck for the balm of gilead.’  I think that is true and innovative statement!  Rather than suffering in silence with our fears and doubts and the dark shadows that lurk in the corers of our accosted lives…why not seek and understanding a non-judgmental ear to bounce our insecurities off of?  At times the person with the widest smile…is suffering in silence…  It is okay to not feel okay!

Walking and writing and photography goes a long way toward improving my state of mind.  Jonathon and I walked campus yesterday and enjoyed the new Saluki Statue on the Alumni Saluki Plaza.  I have always loved sculptor and statues and action figures…and art!  Just looking at the magnificent massive masterpiece…made my day!  As we were snapping photos with our new favorite art-work, up comes several people who asked if we could take their photo in front of the dogs.  One of the gentlemen commented that the metal for the Salukis came from his son’s company.  After we took their photos they asked if we would like for them to return the favor…and they did!  As I witnessed our friends excitement regarding not only the new iconic destination for the campus…but also their love for SIUC…I took courage!  Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale is loved all over the world!  We are loved because people from around our globe have experienced us and what we have to offer!  I have traveled in Europe and had delightful conversations regarding SIUC!  We stand at the door of fall semester and a new academic year.  Although we have been separated and have become extremely aquatinted with our own homes…our university home is resplendent and ready to work its magic…once again!