Monday, January 6, 2020

Casting a long shadow or…



Reflections as I walk.

For various reasons: the sun was out, I haven’t been walking regularly in quite some time, my younger son has the flu, I just had a bad cold and really, really need to ramp up the health care, I decided to take a walk yesterday (and again today).

Decided to start small with just a flat walk and only a half an hour.

It was the end of the day and as I walked along one of the roads I noticed my shadow – a very, very long shadow stretching meters across the fields.



I reflected upon the phrase “to cast a long shadow”.
If “cast a shadow” has a negative connotation, “to cast a long shadow” doesn’t always:
simply the notion of someone or something having a great or long-standing influence.
Positive examples could be Florence Nightingale, Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, etc.

Then I related this notion to people: when we are small, our shadows are also small, as they are in the morning. At noon, or the height of our lives, the shadow is non-existent (does that mean that we are at our most egotistical?), but late in the day – or late in our lives – our shadows extend way across the fields. It gave me pause for thought: may my personal shadow be one that extends good, one that bears only positivity and love.



No comments:

Post a Comment