I heard a Nicki Minaj song today the hook on which made some reference to "the greatest moment in my life", or "the moment I've been waiting for" or something like that. I didn't like it, but it made me think. In the Aerosmith song "Amazing" the chorus goes "It's amazing/in the blink of an eye you finally see the light/yeah, it's amazing/when the moment arrives that you know you'll be alright."
Many of us hold a special fascination for "The Moment". The best example I can think of comes from the film The Pursuit of Happyness, a biopic about entrepreneur/ philanthropist Chris Gardner. In the movie's climactic scene, after months of the kind of adversity that would make most of us crumble, Chris sits at his desk, toiling away for the brokerage firm. His trainer calls him into the conference room. All of the bigwigs of his office are assembled. They inform him that he is the one trainee out of 30 that will be offered a permanent job with the company. He will now be able to provide for himself and his son. He'll no longer be homeless. In the next scene, Chris exits the building in slow motion, walking down the street, tears of joy flowing, clapping his hands, reveling in his changing fortune, his giant leap into his destiny. The violin strings swell, the heart strings tug. This is "The Moment".
It's easy to be enamored with the concept of "The Moment". It ties in with everything we're taught about the American dream and and how we're all entitled to a mansion and a yacht. A very big deal is often made when someone wins a huge lottery jackpot. They cover it on the news with a big press conference with a giant check. The winners all grin, answering questions about their plans. Often the plan involves quitting their job, buying a huge house, and.....well....not much else. We the viewers vascillate between envy and vicarious thrill; "They're gonna be sitting pretty from now on!"
Recently our culture has more and more embraced ideals of avarice and comfort. "The Moment" helps sell these false ideals, and so it has become a lot more prominent in our entertainment. American Idol is the most popular program on television. Because it sells "The Moment". A hometown boy or girl rises up from nothing. We watch them, we vote on them. After months of competition and drama (not to mention increasingly egregious contestant-pimping), Fox successfully sells "The Moment" and we line up to buy. A new American Idol is crowned amid fireworks, confetti and the adulation of hundreds of millions of fans in an unprecendented ratings bonanza.
Months later, the Idol's album comes out, and things change. The last few years have borne out that TV success, that moment that is made such a big deal out of, does not necessarily translate into permanent success. Idol has had it's success stories of course, but at this point there are several more Lee Dewyze's than there are Carrie Underwoods. Some of you may be saying right now, "Lee Who?" My point exactly.
Many of those aforementioned lottery winners will attest to the same change in the weather. There are a great many stories about these winners ending up right back where they started financially not very long after their lottery win, if not in worse circumstances than before. But this isn't really about the lottery or pop stars. It's about us.
I have realized that it's not(or shouldn't be)about "The Moment". Moments end. Too many of us dream and think and pine for the moment that will come along and give us what we want, make us who we are supposed to be, or set the world right. But "The Moment", when it becomes the focus, becomes a brick wall. It may be gilded, adorned with a beautifully painted mural, with all the colors of your greatest fantasies. But a brick wall still represents an ending. How long can we stand there and look at it while the sun streaks across the sky and the grass grows around our feet. It may take awhile, but eventually the mural becomes boring and unremarkable, while we sit and revel in a moment that came and went.
After Chris Gardner's Moment, he went on to found Gardner Rich LLC. He is a motivational speaker and a philanthropist who among other things helps support the Cecil Williams Glide Community House in San Francisco, and has funded programs to provide housing for low income families. It wasn't just about "The Moment" for him. He considered life after the moment. He thought about what's next. There needs to be more of that.
We don't need to wait for the moment that changes everything. EVERY moment changes everything, or at least it can. It's important to use the small moments for big things; to learn, to pray, to plan, to share. Those lottery winner horror stories we've all heard show us that if we are unprepared for life after "The Moment", then we can soon end up just as badly off. It's important to think about our goals as gateways to more goals. Appreciate and celebrate achievement, but remember: You are not done. There is always more to learn, more strength to gain, more people to help. Make sure that your moment or moments aren't brick walls, but springboards. I know how important this is from personal experience. Looking at my own life I realized I often found myself relaxing after some small victory; some gig that I got or some good news that came through. It took me a long time to realize that resting on my laurels for too long after the moment dishonors the blessing that came in that moment. The Moment isn't meant for the mantel. The Moment is meant for motion.
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