Connecting the dots...

    As a young child  I wanted to learn to draw, but my skills were not very good and my parents didn't appreciate me using the walls of my bedroom as a place to practice.  There were no magic markers back in the day, only crayons. But crayons still presented a challenge when it came time to remove the scribbling from the walls. I was quick to learn that scribbling was what paper was to be used for.
   To improve my artistic skills, I can remember coloring books with the endless pages of 'connecting the dots'. Start with number 1, move on to number 2, and eventually it would become some identifiable object or shape. While the process of  connecting the dots was a good way to learn to draw, it did present an additional problem. One needed to know how to count. But with age came that skill too and eventually I moved on to 'paint by numbers'.
   Today, connecting the dots has new meaning. As each day dawns, often we are  faced with the challenge of connecting the dots in the lives we live. There are so many things we want to do but so little time.  And many times something unexpected happens and we become overwhelmed. Where do I begin? How do I get started? Analysis paralysis!! There are times that 'life is just too busy'.  How do I get back in control?
   The new meaning behind  connecting dots  is that if we take  time  to look back,  eventually we will see a path for a future... a picture or plan that will offer insight and direction. But it does mean looking back before moving forward, sometimes a difficult thing to do.
  In a recent response to a question posed to a state legislator regarding  the budget gap at the Department of Health and Human Services, the legislator  began by saying that in order to solve many of the State's financial problems and issues, we  needed to “connect the dots.” I am not sure if he was  speaking as a  Republican or Democrat. Maybe his response was a bit too glib, but it made good press. Perhaps he owned 'connect the dot' books like I did as a child in order to use that descriptive of solving the budget issues, but I don't remember seeing any pictures about  budget shortfalls.
   Over the years as I have grown older and I hope a bit wiser I better understand the 'connecting the dots' message. In one of his commencement addresses  by the late Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, Jobs spoke about connecting the dots and how past events and diverse life experiences helped shape his future. “You can't connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them by looking backwards. You have to trust that what you learn will somehow connect you to the future. You have to learn to trust in something, or in someone. You have to believe the dots will be connected  somewhere down the road.”
   As a child, connecting the dots in all of the books allowed me to learn how to make new shapes and designs and when I  finally learned to draw  without the dots or numbers I began to trust my abilities to create new shapes and new designs, ones that were bigger and better . Those early 'dots' provided the  confidence I needed to move forward.
   In life, the experiences one has, whether they be positive or negative, all serve a purpose. They provide each of us with our own collection of dots to be connected, dots to be looked back upon so that we can move forward..