Hyphenated

I thought I’d start this new year with a different kind of post, that being there is a new post, and secondarily one that is not the ubiquitous and obsequious type that is normally prevalent at this time. Most everyone has some story or turning point in their respective lives that brings on change or a new, clearer view of things. I have to admit I was one of those who never had that, whereas some people are endowed with many occurrences of it.

I finally came across some words that have caused me to pause and invest quite a bit of thinking. I was listening to a talk radio show, and the story that was being recounted was only partially heard since I caught the last bit of it. That last part was my Rosetta Stone of a sort, and made a lot of things fall into place. It was about a friend who was eulogizing a fallen friend of his who was a soldier; he made a remark specifically about the hyphen which was between his birth and death year. The point he made was how small a thing the hyphen was yet how much it stood for, particularly in this man’s life. It was the moment that others have had which I finally experienced. It really caused me to experience the last 20 or so years of life, successes and failures, things over which I had no control, and the things which I could have shaped differently.

So in essence I didn’t make the list, but instead gave myself a mandate in which to keep; and that is to make the hyphen, when it occurs, to have real substance and give meaning to the phrase one man can make a difference.