In her customary terse and trenchant verse, Emily Dickinson captured the essence of fame.
Fame is a bee.
It has a song.
It has a sting.
Ah, too, it has a wing.
Fleeting fame. Like youth, strength and significance, it only lasts until the next best seller, viral tweet or trendy style displaces it. It cannot compete with the prettier face, the faster horse or the nimbler mind. And, it’s almost always too soon. Fame unceremoniously dumps us before we are finished saying our goodbyes.
I speak of fame, but I’m really talking about significance or personal importance. In humankind’s perennial quest to be a player, we all want to matter, to be significant, to have a reason to say, “I belong,” or “I’m still needed!” Unfortunately, our grip on it is far too tenuous. It lasts only as long as we can make a meaningful contribution to the lives of others. Whenever we outlive our significance, we get shunted aside. The thundering herd leaves the irrelevant in the dust as it paws and pounds its way on to more lucrative fields.
The struggle for relevancy begins early in the cognitive process. We seek to please our parents, we strive for superiority among our peers, and then we entrench ourselves in career productivity. Our report cards, pay stubs, flashy gadgets and envious looks from our fellows validate our significance. Mid-stream, few of us understand that it is all time stamped. The illusion of permanence blinds many to the built-in expiration date. All good things must come to an end.
This being said, however, the shrinking violet still has some options. When agility or strength dissipates, force of personality may still assert itself. When the body can no longer execute the physical plan, the brain keeps on strategizing. When real authority lapses, the shrewd head remains a repository of sage advice. When the frontlines beckon no more, the sidelines and shadows offer much needed places of comfort and encouragement for those still in the battle. When preaching, teaching and ministry gets bequeathed to a younger generation, the potential for wizened prayer warriors grows even stronger.
And, when all else fails, the elderly know that their money will always assure them of relevancy!