Tuesday, August 30, 2011

What if you had the final word?





Tough question today yet simple enough to set free the imaginations desire to fire up the torches that singe the corners of your spirit fashioned world…



In Robert Duvall’s new motion picture 7 Days in Utopia the point of view is drawn to a division on the path; professional golfer Jake is asked to chip away the granite that makes up the message that’ll rest forever on the face of his headstone.



Duvall asks, “What will people know you for? He shot a 59?”



Nearly twenty five years ago I befriended Clay…a creative, high energy, sports playing mother loving barely a teen adventure that needed nothing more than a male voice to hear the words that fed the rivers to the lakes and oceans he’d one day sculpt. The human hand can cut from wood the ticks on a clock but time can’t be purchased.



A late night accident stole from the distance of the wind.



I vividly remember his mother’s drive to embrace her child’s embodiment creating a masterpiece on the locks a mountain willing gives away so the human race never forgets.



Duvall’s character teaches the golfer to bury the lies, to learn how to look around rough grounds, to pace the journey over untouched waters while never letting go of the final message.



I’ve never been to my birth father’s place of rest. He left when I was three. He never returned nor have I. Therefore my picture is tainted and would only offer rust to a moment designed by those who knew him most.



When my mentor Dr. Ron recognized the voices behind the gates calling his name; deeply his family bickered about what was to be written. It had to include! It needs to say this! It has to be exactly. But, what about? Start over! And over…and over. To the point of the headstone never being correct even after it sat above his tiny body. They removed it, went to court because the accusations were against the rock chipper when I know in my heart he made no mistake. I’ve never healed.



Duvall asks, “What will people know you for?”



Sadly in the minutes after time has sipped its final straw of life from the 64 ounce super soda your parents purchased during a heightened exploration; there’s no voice to protect the next step in a book that fades each time the sun scrapes its rays across the paths of many.



But in a perfect world where money is of plenty…what has become of your legacy and how shall it be shared with people you’ll never meet? Knowing what you choose is the life you live loyally and with determined passion by way of being perseverant.



I will always believe in you first…



arroecollins@clearchannel.com

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