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WHATARE YOU WAITING FOR?
T
h..:re's a lillle of th c dreame r in
a ll o f us. Othe rwi se . yo u
wo uldn't se e so many di s–
cv ntented. struggling. medi ocre li ves
a round yo u - livcs dcdicatcd Lo th c
"not quite ·" of li vin g - sea rchin g.
rea ching out. hoping.uplanning. an"u
usually fa iling.
Wh a t is a ·'no t quit e' '?
Well, it 's one of th e dozens o f
compromiscs you have learncd to
li ve with . l t's another of those ex–
cuses you otfered yo urself ror small
di sa ppoin tmcnts and füi lures. lt's
a no ther dashed hope. broken prom–
ise. missed appointment. unread
novel. cancc ll ed Lrip. o r brokcn
da te.
l t's the whole series of li ul e jusLi–
fi ca ti ons you have ofrered yo Lu·se lf
fo r bcing what yo u a re, whcrc you
are: doin g - ami still being some–
how dissa tisfi ed with it a ll - just as
you are. ri ght now.
What a bout it?
Js your lite a real success? Are you
rea lly happy? ls your job cxc iting.
inspiring. chall enging and rewa rd–
ing? 1· your ma rriage or your socia l
li fe a con tant delighr - enjoya bl e
and l'ulr-illing? Are you out of debt
and in solid fin ancia[ shape?
Sorne Day .
This is no " pull-yourself-up- by–
your-own -boo ts trap " a rticl e on
'"self-help.. or some kind of persona l
be tLerment philosophy. l' ll ofrer no
shortcuts to some sw irt windfall or
success . BuL it' about time we rea lly
saw th e "wa iting posture" in most or
us - saw it in true perspec tivc -
and identified it as the culprit that
brings us no end of prí vate pa in!
From your ea rli es t recoll ecLions
or fru strations you bega n wa iting.
Remember how it wa thc day the
little redheaded bully knockcd you
down in a n argument over th e
ma rble game? You shook your
skinn y little fi s t ancl said "You just
wa it - you big bully - l'l l ge t
even! .. . youju. t wait! "
Or. you probably said. "One of
these days - just one o f Lh cse
days ! ..."
28
by
Garner Ted Armstrong
Most people seem to spend
life in a "waiting posture. "
Constant/y planning, hoping,
"waiting it out," they look for
new experiences, travel, fi–
nancia/ windfal/s, and new
breakthroughs in their mar–
riages. lt's time you made his–
tory, instead of waiting for it to
passyou by.
But you never did . Somehow. the
grand dream or your ravori Le JiLtle
gir l wa tching you turn th e neighbor–
hood bully into a quaverin g mass
l)f
tea rs ju t neve r ma terialized . Oh.
yo u hoped it would. You may even
have clreamed about it. You coul d
have boa tcJ of it LO fri en.ds or
looked at muscle-building courses in
magazines. But
thi~
passcd with
other youthful hopcs and dreams.
Does thi ound fa r-fctched?
l
doubt it. Whether your expe ri ence
was cxac tl y this. or just someth ing
simila r. so many o f us havc had
such fru stra tions. mi ssed opport u–
niti es. shattered hopes.
And it wasn' t only the
boy i ~ h
or
girlish hopes th at we re sha tt ered .
but the very mos t importa nt ones:
hopcs o r marri age. home and fam–
ily, hopes or success, cha llcngc. dis–
covery. new thrills and experiences .
Let's face it. Mi ll ions - no. more
than tha t - of people 111USL live
daily with their '' not quites" of life.
Conditioned to Fail ure
lt
doesn' t takc many years for mos t
of us to unde r tand ·ti;e hypocrisy in
th e world a round us. As ea rly teen–
age rs, wc bcgin see ing thc doub lc–
stand a rd world. Our parents may
say one thing. ancl do a nother. T he
newspapers a re loaded with sea n–
da is. "insi de sLories:' infamous tri–
a ls. Ho ll ywood divorces. a nd a
potpourri or sundry immoral tri via
which soon co nvince us th e idealis–
ti c dream of early youth were rea l!y
wonhl ess, after all.
Probably. we bcgin wondcring at
qu ite an early age what we wou ld
be. We wantecl to be omebody -
omebody. wcll . .. diO'erent. Eve ry–
body has had the same exper icnce.
Eve rybody has thought. at one time
or another. ' ' But why does it always
haveto be me?" This is mos tly va n–
ity. of course. bu t it happens. ncver–
theless .
From ch ild h. ood. each pe rso n
wan ted Lo be somethi ng somcone!
A fi rcman? Most boys have thought
of it. A pilot? An as tronaut? Proba–
bly
so.
Ora chemist. an ac ronau tica l
enginee r? Or perhaps a captain of a
ship. or a cowboy. or a corporat ion
executive. an inventor. or
l ~l m ous
po litician.
But practi ca lly nobody planned to
be wha t mos t peop lc are.
How ma ny boys longed to be
tr uck dr ivers. plumbers. carpenters.
la borers. machin ist . elevator oper–
ato rs (t herc still a re a rcw). con–
cess ion opcra tors. or door-to-door
sa lcsmcn or a t leas ! two hu nd red
d iffere nt a rt icles?
And how ma ny g i r ls really
dreamccl of ma rrying j us t the man
th ey're married to - wit h the job he
has. th c home lhcy live in. lhe car
th ey cl rive. thc childrcn thcy have.
th e de bts they're in, and the fulure
th ey share?
But rnost people a rcn ' t terribly
unhappy in such circumsta nces.
They' re j u t " mi ld ly'' unhappy.
BuL unhappy a t a ll isn't happy.
And Lhe unhappiness comes f'rom
Lhe fru. t ra tion of a whole series of
small fa ilures. These are th e "not
qu ites"' in life.
Most people didn 't have "quite
enough" money Lo pay th c bilis.
They "almost"' go t that raise. that
Lrip. tha t vaca ti on. that ncw TV sc t,
or th at new a utomobi le.
Our Little Justifications
And even our accidents. fa ilures.
an d fin a ncia! mistakes are just ifi.ed .
When someone has had a minor
traffic mishap. he' ll usua lly specu–
late. for u cless hour . on the " lf l
had just .. ." idea. T hat means he ' ll
won der why he dicl n't take j ust a
liu le longer to fumble lor his car
The
PLAIN TRUTH July 1976