On Being Circumspect

I’ve had it on my mind lately, just how do I appear to others?  Little things have shown me through the years that indeed others do watch my life, just as I watch the lives of others, and my actions and words give impressions to people.  Though others may not “judge” me, I am sure that they come to conclusions about me based on how I live my life.  I may actually influence another human being to do something based on what I’ve done.  It’s a serious thought.

I keep in my kitchen, in a prominent location (where I can focus on it daily), a hinged frame with a drawing in each side.  My daughter drew these pictures of me when she was about 7 years old.  These drawings are two of my most prized possessions. 

No, I don’t think they illustrate any genius-level art skills, but they mean the world to me because I could see in my daughter’s perception of me that I was actually conveying to those around me some of the attributes that I desired to possess.  Domesticity and modesty come to mind.  The drawings also drove home to me again the fact that what I do most certainly is written on the brains and hearts of my children.  Indeed, my daily actions are witnessed and recorded — at least in memory, by all those around me.

I guess I don’t have to elaborate about specific things in which to be circumspect.  It could have to do with anything from how I handle a dollar hard-earned by myself or my husband, to how I dress myself when I leave my home, to the language I choose to use, to how I treat a person in need or someone who has hurt me.

Herman Melville (1819-1891) wrote regarding seamen:  “he who goes the oftenest round Cape Horn goes the most circumspectly.”

That’s because a wise seaman knows the dangers of Cape Horn — the gale-force winds that make waves 65 feet high and the chance of being shipwrecked. 

Visualizing the future effects of our  present actions may not be as easy as knowing of a hundred shipwrecks and steering clear of well-known danger. 

I want to check myself more often, that I am being circumspect in all that I do.  There’s a lot at stake.

Lynn