Spirituality and Wellness
Lloyd Den Boer
Adventure Around the Next Corner
Does “ around the next corner ” sound enticing to you ? Does it sound scary ? Our reactions will vary , which recalls a childhood game that my siblings and I played with our cousins and friends . On lovely summer evenings , as dusk slowly dimmed to dark , we would gather on the front steps of our old , four-square farmhouse to play “ Ten Steps Around .” The child chosen to be “ It ” would slip away to hide behind one of the trees or bushes that dotted the farmhouse lawn . The rest of us would start our journey around the house with ten free strides and then carry on with cautious starts and stops , keeping close to the walls at every point . Our object was to travel around the four sides of the house and back to its front steps without being seen in motion by the person who was “ It .” “ It ” could be hiding anywhere on the lawn , making each move a risk , especially as the light faded . Yet , no steps were riskier than the ones taken with the least information about where the threat lay — the first steps around each corner .
As players , we revealed aspects of our personalities and characters at the corners . Some of us would round the corners “ casting caution to the wind ” — as we say — relying on bravado more than observational skills . Those foolhardy few seldom made it to the goal before “ It ” would discover them in motion and send them back to the front steps to start their journeys again . On the other hand , some of us would linger long at the corners , needing to feel safe before moving . Someone was sure to reach the goal well before a risk-averse player . Thus , the wary were no more successful than the foolhardy . Those of us who , overall , were neither too foolhardy nor too wary sometimes lost and sometimes won . In either case , we were absorbed in the game — the fun lay
somewhere between foolhardiness on one side and wariness on the other . In that space , each turn of a corner was the next adventure .
Living life with a sense of adventure , with profound and confident engagement in our experiences , is a gift . Living life shackled by doubts , fears , and hesitations , on the other hand , can be misery . That is the kind of life that T . S . Eliot depicted in “ The Love Song of J . Alfred Prufrock .” Eliot ’ s poem is a jagged record of Prufrock ’ s thoughts , with abrupt starts and stops as Prufrock imagines bold steps , realizes that he lacks confidence , and collapses in self-recrimination . Haunted by the insignificance of his own life , Prufrock imagines that others must pity or even despise him . He cannot disagree . “ I have heard the mermaids singing each to each ,” he says , but he adds sadly , “ I do not think they will sing to me .”
I can think of no greater contrast with an adult alienated from life ’ s enchantment than a child absorbed in play . Although deep engagement in play appears commonplace , parents and educators know that a child ’ s engagement is the happy product of complex factors . True , individual personality and character play a role , but so do such things as practical competence , suitable self-confidence , and
22 | arta . net AROUND THE NEXT CORNER