Better a Living Dog . . .

"Whoever is joined with the living has hope, for better a living dog than a dead lion." Ecclesiastes 9:4

First, I wanted to be cop.

I remember going to a Thanksgiving Day parade in downtown Detroit and seeing handsome officers in their dress blues riding beautifully groomed horses down Woodward Avenue. The policemen were stern faced and seemed oblivious to the crush of onlookers. At that moment I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wanted to be a cop--because cops ride horses in parades! I was five years old. My ambition changed in August 1967 when I witnessed police officers clubbing suspected vandals with truncheons during the terrifying days of the Detroit riots, when my city was set aflame with hatred and violence. I no longer wanted to be a policeman. I was six years old.

Later I wanted to be an architect because of a drafting class I had in school. After that I wanted to fly helicopters, raise cattle, and own my own business. In high school my dream of being elected the governor of the State of Iowa was so well known that a friend purchased for me stationery with my embossed name and title: "Governor Kevin Piecuch". I think I still have some of those sheets in a box in my basement.

And, like every child who loves popular culture, I also imagined conquering the world as a rock star. That ambition I kept to myself.

And yes, being a lawyer was also a dream, one deeply held and one I attained a little later than I planned . . . but it was one dream I realized. Other than finding a life partner or raising children, I can't think of anything sweeter than achieving your dreams. It's true.

As a person get's older, however, you realize that many amazing dreams you ached to achieve as a youth will never be realized. And as these dreams wilt and fade, and fall away like blooms off a flowering tree, you somehow feel your life has lost a little bit of beauty. And when you look at yourself--you stop seeing the future star, but instead stare at the ordinary guy you never wanted to be, but now find yourself anyway.

To make matters worse, with age you not only lose dreams, but you realize missed opportunities, times where you see in retrospect that, but for a bad decision or some other mistake, you might have achieved something special and maybe enjoyed a better life. Dreams fade and regrets haunt, no wonder so many old folks are depressed.

If you are taunted by feelings of anguish because your life has not turned out quite the way you planned, you must listen carefully to the writer of Ecclesiastes. Life is a remarkable gift--and as long as you have life and breath you always have hope for a better tomorrow. To spend your life, however, chasing ghosts and aching over things you cannot change achieves nothing, instead it wastes your life, which is the most precious gift all of us share.

Remember, regardless of how you got to your present reality, you possess talent, skills and experiences that make you valuable. Maybe you're not the lion (or the governor, or the cattle rancher) but that's not to say that being the dog is worthless. I just read that dogs are now being trained to detect certain cancers in humans through their keen senses of smell--isn't that remarkable? And, getting to be the lion in the world sometimes requires paying a steep price. The sheer effort to get to the top has brought ruin to many (look at Detroit's former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick). Sometimes, maybe it is better to be the living dog than the dead lion.

I'm all for driving ourselves to use our talents and achieve goals. No need to be ordinary slobs who sleepwalk through life not really trying to improve the world. At the same time, stop beating yourself up over lost dreams and missed opportunities.

While all young people dream of better lives, there's no reason why us old folks can't be optimists and dreamers, too! And, our dreams should be all that more vivid, attainable and less naive because they are colored by our own experiences.

As long as you have life and breath, look forward with hope and don't look backwards with regret. See how looking backwards worked out for Lot's wife? I'd rather be like John the Evangelist who at 90 years old could still envision a new heaven and a new earth where every tear was wiped away and every sorrow healed.

I'm launching a new business next week, one that is going to change my life . . . again. And, later, I have some other rocking plans poised to help real people. What dreams are you planning to achieve this week? Let me know, because I'm here to cheer you on. LIVING DOGS UNITE!!