Smudger Snippets
Created | Updated Nov 12, 2003
I suppose it's because I have so much time on my hands these days, that all these memories come flooding back to me.
Promises
We have all been there at some time in our lives; that really hairy situation where our life is on the line and we make all these promises to God if he gets us out of it. Then, some time later - when we're safe and at home and that terror has left us - we don't keep our promise. We make up excuses as to why we never kept the promise, or put it down to something said in the heat of the moment through fear.
We have all had that really bad argument, stormed out of the house into the darkness and then down to the pub where we will always find someone who shares our point of view. Yet we knew, even before we left, that we would return fortified with the Dutch courage drunk in the pub. Then comes that clumsy period, where we know we want to make up but, on the other hand, we don't want to be the first to make the move. In fact, we know that 'sorry' is the hardest word to say, and even harder to say with conviction.
Sometimes life can be become so dull and routine that we actually find ourselves searching back in time for an exciting memory, or a close brush with death. Anything to give us that zing, that rush of blood to the head, that feeling of life itself! It could be a memory of a time of action, or of a torrid affair that ended all those years ago. Look at you now! Older, slower; it takes you effort to walk, never mind running through a field of corn trying to catch what turned out to be a beautiful memory inside an aging body. The sheer frustration of it all! What happened to the years, to that young vibrant person you see in the photo album? All that remains is a memory of broken promises.
We make promises all the time as we go through life. Some we take as sacred, like the marriage vows, and the Christening ones. Others we never keep; they were made simply to pacify a nagging child, or an elderly relative, thinking that they will have been forgotten by the time we get home. Yet they are not forgotten by the person we made them to and that can really hurt a child or an elderly person. 'Come on, Dad, you promised!' can stay with a child all the way through life - right up until they say to their child 'I promise'! Then the memory comes back to haunt them from all those years ago. Or the last words from that elderly Aunt to the nurse holding her hand, 'Don't worry dear, he will come. After all, he promised!'
Some promises we break might not mean much. On the other hand, a broken promise taken as a marriage vow can cost you all you have in the world leaving you with the rest of your life to add up the cost.
A broken promise may just hurt someones feelings, cause a row when you return home late, or change the life of a child for ever. Never again will that child put their trust in someone who broke a promise!
So the next time you find yourself uttering the words, 'I promise!', think first and think very carefully. Will it hurt if I don't keep it? Could I live with the consequences? Should I make more effort? Remember what it feels like - to be on the receiving end of a broken promise!
