Matters of the heart
by Christine Kling
As I approach my retirement and my last class next week, I have been showing my students the video of J.K. Rowling giving the commencement address at Harvard in 2008. The speech on "The Benefits of Failure and the Importance of the Imagination" is a bit more than 20 minutes long, but worth watching.
I adore the quote she closes with:
"As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters."
— Lucius Annaeus Seneca
When I was a child, my family gave me the nickname "Lightnin'" because I was so slow. I was always the last one to arrive, the last to finish. Today, little has changed. Although I can usually get places on time now, most everything I do is at a slower pace than that of those around me. I didn't go to college at 18 like Rowling did. I went sailing instead, and there are not many slower methods of travel. I did not finish graduate school until I was nearly 40 years old, so I came to the career ladder late, too. And now in my 50's, I'm abandoning that ladder. Again, a late bloomer. I haven't always known what I wanted to do with my life, but I have kept trying and searching to figure it out.
And here I am trying to sell this novel that has been 4 years in the making – a glacial pace by today's standards.
I like the words Thoreau used — I choose to live my life deliberately. How good it is matters a whole lot to me both for my life and for my books. And I don't want to rush either one.
Some of the boaters I know think I have waited excessively long to take off cruising again. They advocate that it is never too early to throw off the dock lines and go. Others, especially those in academia, think I'm mad to turn my back on the offer of tenure to retire early on a paltry pension. And many writer friends repeat the mantra, "Don't quit your day job."
I listen and I thank them for their concerns, but I feel that the time is right for me now. I'm ready to say good bye to teaching, ready to move back onto my boat, ready to pour out all these voices and stories in my head. And I'm ready to risk failure in my attempt.
Another of my favorite commencement addresses is that of Steve Jobs when he spoke to the Stanford graduating class.
"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way
to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.
And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.
If you haven't found it yet, keep looking, and don't settle.
As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it."
~ Steve Jobs
And when I find it, I'll be sure to let you know.
Fair winds!
Christine
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