Thought for the Day
“Understanding is love’s other name”
Thich Nhat Hanh
Lucy shares her recent poignant class reunion:
“Don’t Worry about getting Old. Worry about thinking Old.” This means not talking about the “Bucket List” and not talking about the end game. Then the question becomes: How do we challenge ourselves in the business of Living Each Day?
I went to my grammar school reunion a couple of weeks ago. I have stayed pretty much out of Reunion gatherings for many years, but a childhood friend had done something extraordinary and I wanted to tell him how proud I was of what he had accomplished.
I grew up along the Charles River in Cambridge. My elementary coed school comprised of grades B4-9th grade. There was a genial group in my class,
“Cradlemates” as we were called, that were together for eleven years. For some, that time frame was longer than we had ever done anything…including marriages.
One of my Cradlemates, Robin Batteau, is a Grammy and Clio winner as well Oscar nominated musical composer. He is best known for the jingles he created including, I’m Loving It for McDonalds and The Heartbeat of America for Chevrolet. He is also a singer, song writer and performer.
But the pandemic made him realize that a significant fragment of his life was missing:
“Like so many of us, I have been a little reborn by The Great Hole in the Universe this pesky virus has given us, in my case, inspired to take care of unfinished business, namely college.”
Robin is clearly talented, smart, inquisitive and, most importantly, a kind friend. He found a way to connect the extraordinary education that they were given in elementary school and allowed it to bubble up and lead him to new creative thinking at age 74. It never occurred to him to be intimidated by how time and culture had changed one of the most prestigious colleges in the country, Harvard University:
According to the Harvard Gazette: “Batteau delighted in the challenges of being back in college after a 50-year gap, grateful for the opportunity to learn, even among classmates who could have been his great-grandchildren and with powers of retention that sometimes faltered.”
Robin left Harvard in 1968 to get a job to help get his family back on its feet financially. At the time, he was two semesters short of his degree. He tried again in 1970 but was again forced to leave to support his family.
This time, fifty years later, Robin immersed himself and enrolled with a full course load. He said, “I took ancient Greek language — that’s the course that kicked my brain. … It was tough, but wonderful.” He graduated this past May with a degree in Integrative Biology.
In his honor, my fellow Cradlemates have established the Robin Challenge. He is proud to be an inspiration. In simple terms, it means that each of us can and should look in the mirror and ask ourselves what is it that we want to do that has been left undone or perhaps even, what is it that we want to do but have not had the Time? The Opportunity, The Courage? The Will?
What Robin did was in many ways a huge deal, but he started small with one class as a test to see if the universe was aligned with his idea. You can go whole hog or dip your toes, and this is where Time leads to Opportunity to Will to Courage and to the best kind of Pat Yourself on the Back – one you do for you.
Each one of us has something left undone. We would love to have you share what you would like to do. What story remains untold, what dream have you deferred, what goal remains elusive? Do this, not because it remains incomplete, but, because it will make your life richer by doing it.
Ciao
Lucy and Claudia