You may be familiar with the book Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carre.
Here's the story line: "In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet agent within MI6."
The book became a TV mini-series in 1979 and was made into a blockbuster movie in 2011.
I never read the book, watched the mini-series, nor went to the movie.
It's not the story line that intrigues me, though it is a tempting indulgence...
It's the title that captures my imagination!
I love the way the words "tinker, tailor, soldier, spy" just roll off the tongue...it's like they don't belong together, but are inextricably linked in some bizarre yet intuitive way.
The title teases us with the roles the story's protagonist will play...
And entices us to consider all the different roles each of us will play during this extra-ordinary adventure-filled reality-movie called mortality.
Some we play by choice; others are thrust upon us by our successes, failures, challenges, triumphs...
Which begs the question, when the history of our lives is recorded - indelibly with words on paper, and/or as digital 1's and 0's somewhere out there in cyberspace, or merely as memories in the minds of family members, friends, colleagues, acquaintances - what will define us?
It won't be what we have accomplished as we've played out our unique and individual roles on the silver screen of life...
It will be who we have become, just before the movie ends and the credits scroll across the screen, that will define us.
It's who we are, not what we do, that leaves a lasting legacy for those that follow us - those we care the most about.
Husband | Father | Soldier | Saint
These are the roles responsible for the evolution of who I am, who I've been, who I will yet become.
My story line doesn't include anything close to espionage or intrigue at the highest levels of governmental influence and power.
It is a story line, none the less, replete with adventures, fears, heartaches, joys...
A story line that emboldens me to embrace, and not distrust, the experience I've had!
Best,
~Robert
