The Palisadian-Post presents an homage to Will Rogers’ column, “Will Rogers Says,” with a new column by Palisadian Jimmy Dunne—on life in the “greatest town in America.”
My flight was delayed in an airport and I did something I’ve rarely done: I got a shoe shine.
As the gentleman began on one of my shoes, rather than just enjoy the simple 10-minute moment, I was lost on my iPhone, banging away at an endless drawer of emails.
I had rudely waited until he was finished and I was paying the gentleman when I asked him how he was doing—and he looked deep in my eyes, smiled and said one word.
With a battery-dead laptop on the plane, I had a wonderful, rare quiet time to do nothing but think. Not about things I had to do, or to revisit what I wished I’d done about one of life’s doors that already closed—but I took a “time out” to wonder about his word.
We all know how time goes faster the higher up we are. Time’s flying by right now at record speeds.
Maybe that’s the trick. To get closer to the ground. To feel the heartbeat of the earth. To listen to what’s close by—and to listen for things far away that we’ve forgotten to hear at all.
And, maybe, just maybe, we’ll hear that gentleman’s word. That beautiful word. Maybe the most beautiful word of all …
Grateful.
Jimmy Dunne is modern-day Renaissance Man; a hit songwriter (28 million hit records), screenwriter/producer of hit television series, award-winning author, an entrepreneur—and a Palisadian “Citizen of the Year.”
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