Prepare Them to Answer the Call

Daily Dad July 31

When the hero of the story is comfortable in their home, living the life they have always lived, part of them hopes that nothing will ever change. Yet, something always comes and knocks on their door, and a foreboding sense of responsibility stands beyond the threshold. For Frodo, it is the mission to cast the ring of power into the depths of Mount Doom. For Luke Skywalker, it is the call to become a member of the dying Jedi order and fight against the Sith. For those who walk on Earth, it could be the phone ringing and a dear relative asking for help. It could be an email with a job offer that means you’ll have to uproot your daily traditions. It could be a beautiful woman, who wants long-term commitment through marriage.

Change is inescapable, even if one were to turn their back on the knocking on their door. The haunting of lost opportunity wreaks havoc on the living, driving doubt and self-destruction. Those moments of change are what define us, and develop us into better and greater humans. Ryan Holiday quotes Winston Churchill today:

To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to them and fitted to their talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour.

This knock is identified in many ways in our culture. For some, it is conscience. For others, it is felt as the will of God. It is the feeling of chance, the noticing of the pitched ball. It is the parent’s job to make sure that their child is lined up on the plate, with the right bat in hand, and the practice behind them to make sure that they’ll be able to give their best swing at the opportunity.

Part of the job of the parent as well, is to try and encourage the child towards the space where the call will come. For work, that may mean encouraging the child to ask for a raise or look for a new job. To get out and do the interview that will lead to the tap on the shoulder. It is the encouragement to continue dating, even after heartbreak.

My father encouraged me in many facets of my life. I remember one time when he was driving me home from freshman year at college. I had all these bright ideas of what I wanted to do besides college work. I wanted to brew beer, I wanted to start a band, I wanted to make YouTube videos, and feel like a creator.

And his response was simple.

“Why don’t you start making videos now? Why do you think you have to leave school to do it?“

It stumped me, and I blurted something along the lines of, “school just keeps me so busy.“

But the reality was that I had plenty of time to record videos. I had plenty of time to practice singing and guitar, and to learn about how to make beer. That message he left me with twists in my mind still to this day. It was his way of preparing me for my future.

The subtext was that success would come with whatever I choose to do, but the work has to come first. Fate’s touch on the shoulder would arrive at my door, and if I was not working at what I wanted to do, then I would not be ready for the opportunity when it showed up. I’d still be a person just talking about what I want to do, instead of being a person who is doing it and working towards it.

My son is too young to for responsibility at this point. He is still trying to learn how to move forward, his only locomotion being backward and rolling side to side. But the preparation has already begun. It is in the reading of books to him at night, even when all he wants to do is eat the pages. It’s in exposing him to a variety of safe foods, to help him learn how to eat things other than milk. It’s in the walks we take, the conversations we have, and the time spent together.