Learning At The MS, Part 2: Moth or Cockroach

"Security is mostly a superstition.  It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.  Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure.  Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."           Helen Keller

   


     Recently I visited one of the ELA classes on our campus.  The teacher and students were in a lively discussion as I slipped into the room.  A student was explaining how she just did not like to take risks and did not want to fail.  The teacher answered, "Then I guess you're a cockroach."  What??

     I sat in a desk at the back of the room and began reading the poem that the students were discussing.  It was "The Lesson of the Moth" by Don Marquis.  The poem was a discussion with a moth on why they fly near light, when there is so much danger near light.  The moth answers in one verse saying, "It is better to be happy for a moment and be burned up with beauty than to live a long time and be bored all the while."


     The classroom discussion then began to be about the comparison of "Are you a moth or a cockroach?"
There is danger in risk, but without risk there is no reward.  Am I content to live on the ground without realizing the beauty above me?

     C.S. Lewis, one of my favorite writers, says, "We are content to play in puddles, like children, while the ocean is beside us."  I want to be aware of opportunities around me.  I do not want to be content.  Jeremiah 46:17 says, " They cried there, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is but a noise. He missed the appointed time."  The word opportunity or appointed in Latin is "ob portu" which was a ship waiting on the tide to head to sea.  I refuse to allow fear to prevent me from missing an appointed time to head out to sea.

     "A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for."    William Shredd

      I want to go on a mission trip overseas.  I want to risk danger to see the beauty of the light.  We live in a house that had four children and they are all living their lives.  Where are we supposed to go?  What are we supposed to do?  In the Bible there is a parable about men with talents.  The greatest judgement was to the man who buried his talents to be safe.  I refuse to be safe!  I will be a moth!