I wake up… to the pounding of a sledgehammer!
From the balcony, I can see a man.
He’s hammering away at our neighbor’s compound wall.
Funnily, I’m reminded of when I briefly worked at Apollo hospitals to train in CABG surgery. The buzz would go around the ORs: “Dr.MRG wants an early start tomorrow!”
It meant surgery would begin at 6 AM… instead of the usual 7:30.
Maybe Sledgehammer Guy’s boss ordered an ‘early start‘ today! 😜
But I digress.
I have a photo that shows our neighbor’s house being built. Around the same time we built our own. And two others, as well.
That was nigh 40 years ago.
Today, they’re knocking it down!
And I think about the cycle of life.
A new home is planned with dreams and hopes.
Crafted with love and skill.
Occupied with joy and aspirations.
And then, Life happens.
My mind skims past a sequence of snapshots.
The arrival of a young couple, with their little daughter.
The addition of Jack, their Alsation puppy.
Followed some years later by Scotchy, a frisky Daschund. Who’d squirm under our fence to seek his mate, our own beloved Rocky.
Together, they had two litters of little pups. Brownie and Cindy stayed with us for several years more.
The little girl next door grew up. Went to high school.
Her father’s business thrived.
There were occasional parties.
And then one fine day, they moved out. To another place.
This building was shut down.
It would stay that way…
For the next FIFTEEN years!
Temporarily, an iron-wallah moved into the unlocked verandah – along with his family.
Then the occasional caretaker lived in it intermittently. For a few weeks. Or months.
A night watchman later slept in it for a while.
But largely, it stayed an abandoned building.
Real estate sharks curiously circled the lot.
Rumors of a re-development project did the rounds.
But nothing came of it all.
Recently a business client planned to set up an office. Drilled holes for a bore-well. But after three ‘dry taps’, he gave up.
Now, a year later, there’s a giant mechanical digger growling hungrily in front of the empty shell.
Waiting to sweep in and crush that worn out skeleton.
To turn a brick-and-mortar structure into rubble and dust.
No more rosy dreams.
No more soaring ambition.
No more untapped potential.
All that’s left are memories.
Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. And all ‘flesh’ is grass.
If that were all, this would be a sad story.
Because a building can be a metaphor for ourselves.
Our own lives.
A reflection of our existence on this planet.
Which is why renewal and birth become such a key element of our story.
Sure, by tonight this old building in our neighbor’s lot will no longer be standing.
But just as surely, by this time next year there will be another magnificent structure.
Maybe much bigger.
Stronger.
More versatile.
Better suited for a different purpose.
It may house many more people.
There may be businesses that thrive within its walls.
Or offices and charities.
Classrooms or care-homes.
Who knows how many new dreams it will nurture.
How many hopes it will fulfil.
How many hearts it will warm.
How many lives it will brighten.
That’s the upside of change.
Out with the old, in with the new.
Fresh ideas. Vibrant energies. Interesting innovations. New concepts. Young people.
All these are parts of the cycle of life, too.
Rigid adherence to the old and familiar; staying stuck in a rut of ‘trusted and proven‘; being rooted in a pleasant, nostalgic past… all of this might sound nice and comfortable.
But it’s also like the 40 year-old worn out and decrepit ruin that had been occupying a high-value lot in an upscale location – for 15 full years!
Unused.
Unlived.
Unfulfilled.
That’s got to change.
The deeper message I receive today, being rudely awakened from a deep slumber by the pounding of a sledgehammer, is this…
I’ve got to change.
And live my own untapped potential.
To the fullest.
You, too.
🙏