BlogGer: ​ABOUT Being

Richard Wilberg: Creativity Coach and Musician
  • Home
  • Coaching
  • Music
  • Photography
  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact

Beige

11/13/2018

6 Comments

 
Picture
​Frog
Dr. Andrew drops a leopard frog into a Pyrex dish filled with cold water. He places the dish above a Bunsen burner. The frog’s cool green skin glows, an emerald in a crystal sea. Dr. Andrew sets the flame to boil. The frog leaps from the dish. Dr. Andrew returns the frog to the water and adjusts the flame to simmer. The frog drifts in the illusion of safety while the water boils. 

Molly
My name is Molly. Every workday I board the 7:32 from Tinley Park to the Loop. I fold and unfold – fold and unfold – my train schedule and sink into the beige, cracked, vinyl coach seat on the aisle away from the window. Better to meditate or be with my thoughts than watch urban concrete flash by and be grabbed by black fingers of darkness that try to reach from the underground terminal – through the windows into the train – to envelope me – at the end of the line.
 
What will distract me today? I finger my hair. Should have brushed before I boarded. Memories of Momma and Daddy – after the explosion – the darkness – drift before me. No, I’ll only think pleasant thoughts.
 
Someday I’ll transfer in Blue Island to a different line with a view of Lake Michigan – Chicago’s golden morning sun and a brightly illuminated station at the end of the line. I’ll skip work that day – a grand time I’ll have. No routines or commitments will bother me. If I get off now – the next station – the last chance to transfer – someday could be today. No, I’ll be okay – I’ll ride one more time – to the end of this line.
 
Mr. Businessman
Mr. businessman oh, do you hear
My siren call to bring you near
Or will you dress for the day
For your job or any way
 
     She wants you to be
     To come home to see
     Another life to not include me


On the 8:10 I glance your way
Hoping to catch your eye to say
Be with me to lift away
Far away or anyway


     I want you to be
     To come back to see
     Another life that will include me 

If this essay is meaningful, please like or tweet below or leave a comment. Thank you for your interest and possible action you may take.
 
Richard Wilberg, MS, PLCC, ACC 
Creativity Coach for Personal Fulfillment and Career Success

6 Comments
Wayne Brabender
11/13/2018 07:26:34 pm

I like your pieces. They hang together, showing us the "boringness of ordinaryness" . . . all, including the frog, would like to escape to something more interesting and exciting, but all, including the frog, settle in to their comfortable ways, bite the bullet, accept the inevitable, never pick a more exciting color, and never take the risk to change things. Together they make us think about our own ordinary lives. So, will we do any better? Well done.

Reply
Richard
11/14/2018 11:40:26 am

Wayne, Thank you for your reflection. Yes, we can be numbed by sameness and routine and miss or decide to skip a chance to transfer at the next station that could take us to a better place in our life.Often we don't feel the urgency and postpone a change. In so doing, we make a choice although it may not feel like a decision. Thank you for posting.

Reply
Sherry link
11/15/2018 11:40:19 pm

Richard, I love what you've said here in response to Wayne... "In so doing, we make a choice although it may not feel like a decision." You've nailed something significant here. So many moments happen where we're sly about cheating ourselves, because we remain passive rather than active; staying rather than shifting seems to take less energy when we're in something that is wrong for us, but it provides detrimental effects.

Hoping to catch your eye to say
Be with me to lift away
Far away or anyway

Beautiful...

Reply
Richard
11/17/2018 06:34:05 pm

Ah, yes, "sly" we are when we self-deceive ourselves. Sherry, you have tied the theme together and advanced the conversation in a related direction. I'm fascinated with how we self-deceive in so many ways, tricking our higher self into believing stories that take our behaviors out of the picture and of course our responsibility for our lives. Thank you for your wisdom!

Reply
Louisa
11/23/2018 10:00:43 am

I love how you switched between narrative and poetry. If it had been longer, I'd have kept reading.

Reply
Richard
11/23/2018 10:31:40 am

Louisa, Thank you for your comment.It's fuel for my heart.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    About the Author

    Picture
    I write personal essays, creative non-fiction, flash fiction, and self-development articles from my home in  Madison, Wisconsin.

    Archives

    January 2022
    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014

    Categories

    All
    Acceptance
    Aging
    Alternatives
    Anomie
    Appreciation
    Assertiveness
    Assumptions
    Avoidance
    Awareness
    Balance
    Baseball
    Behavior
    Being
    Betrayal
    Blame
    Brand
    Careerdevelopment
    Career Development
    Caregiving
    Certainty
    Change
    Choices
    Coexistence
    Commitments
    Communication
    Compacency
    Compassion
    Conflict
    Conversation
    Creativity
    Crowd Behavior
    Customer Experience
    Dating
    Decisiion
    Decision-making
    Desire
    Distraction
    Dreams
    Driverless Cars
    Driverless Trucks
    Emotion
    Empathy
    Escape
    Ethical
    Expectations
    Family
    Fatherhood
    Fathers
    Fear
    Fiction
    Flashfiction
    Flash Fiction
    Friendship
    Future
    Gerontology
    Goals
    Golf
    Grieving
    Habits
    Harmony
    Healing
    Healthcare
    Humor
    Hunting
    Imagination
    Innocence
    Innovation
    Instinct
    Integrity
    Intentions
    Intuition
    Jobs
    Journey
    Land
    Leadership
    Legacy
    Lies
    Listening
    Loneliness
    Loss
    Love
    Management
    Marketing
    Meaning
    Mentoring
    Mistakes
    Money
    Moral
    Music
    Mystery
    Nostalgia
    Opportunity
    Ownership
    Parents
    Passions
    Patience
    Perception
    Perfection
    Perseverance
    Personaldevelopment
    Personality
    Perspective
    Photography
    Positivity
    Presence
    Reason
    Redemption
    Relationships
    Repair
    Reputation
    Resilience
    Respect
    Romance
    Secrets
    Selfawareness
    Self-care
    Selfconfidence
    Selfdevelopment
    Self Development
    Self-knowledge
    Self-worth
    Shame
    Song Lyrics
    Sons
    Stillbirths
    Success
    Technology
    Transformational Learning
    Transition
    Trust
    Truth
    Unknown
    Values
    Vision
    Well Being
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Home | Coaching | Music | Photography | About | Blog | Contact
© Wilberg, LLC. All rights reserved. Login.
  • Home
  • Coaching
  • Music
  • Photography
  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact