The Secret of Life

Terry

THE SECRET (of Life)

My Elementary School teacher, Miss Allen, gathered us in a circle just outside the classroom under overspreading limbs of a pecan tree. As she spoke, we all listened intently - the expression on her face seemed to say, "This is very important."

"Sometimes life doesn't go so well and we feel afraid. But we all have a friend who will help us..." she began.

I was thinking, "Uh oh, here comes Jesus..."
I was wrong.

She continued, "Our friend is called the Stream of Time. You know what a stream is - it's not like a river which roars through a canyon like a freight train. A stream moves along without rushing. It is steady and kind."

I was about 8 years old and I must confess I was listening with great curiosity. This wasn't like anything else I'd heard at school before.

"You and I and everybody you know - each of us has a little boat we sit in as the stream flows around us. We have our oars and we can paddle or not - it's up to you what you do."

I thought to myself, "This is wild - has Miss Allen been drinking?"
She went on with her peculiar advice ...

"Here now, I'm going to whisper to you all something called
THE SECRET of LIFE. If you remember it - you can get through anything that happens. Want to hear it?"

She paused as we all bobbed our heads in affirmation.

"We all know that little song - don't we? ROW ROW ROW YOUR BOAT?"
More nods from us.

"Okay. Here is that secret..."

Her voice fell to a stage whisper - we, her audience - leaned forward to catch every syllable.

"The Secret of Life is to Row, Row, Row your boat - but how? GENTLY down the stream. Not too fast, not too slow - but just enough that you put your heart into it and keeping moving..."

Pause. Then ...

"What is our attitude as we pull on our oars with determination? How do we go about our effort? MERRILY MERRILY MERRILY. We aren't sad, or angry, or afraid and never distracted. You can't be merry without hope for what's up ahead. Like those days before Christmas when everything seems to change all around us and we say to each other: MERRY Christmas ..."

All of us in that little circle were hypnotized. She went on ...

"What is the cause of our merry row on that gentle stream of time we call Life? The words of the song make it clear: LIFE IS BUT A DREAM!
And we've all had dreams - and we all understand how unexpected a dream can be - seeming quite real but disappearing with a brand new day of sunshine. So, here we all sit together in our boat this morning and we look around us at each other and think all our days will be simple as this gathering under a pecan tree. But the Stream of Time is moving -- and we are on it - carrying us away. No matter how awful any one particular day may be - the stream always carries us away. NOTHING can stop the Stream of Time and it is always around you in your Merry Dream of life heading toward - what? Nobody knows but for sure - it is away from what is behind."

And with that - her voice went back to normal volume as she had us stand up and stretch - and time for recess! Never another word about rowboats, or merry tomorrows.

None of my classmates said a word about it - no questions - no complaints. I was quite moved but didn't know why.

Many years later I have often pondered Miss Allen's little speech - strange as it was. We weren't inside the classroom - she'd taken us outside. Why? She had whispered - why?

Did she know something nobody else knew which could really truly help us get through life?

I think so. I think that little silly song we sang as children does contain the secret of life.
__________

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily merrily, merrily,…

(repeat and fade)

Terry

Many years later I was listening to NPR radio as I worked and I heard Dr. Wayne Dyer talking about Row Row Row your boat.
"WH-A-A-A-T?" I said it out loud!

How is this possible?
Did he know Miss Allen in 1955?
Everything comes from someplace - right?

I don't know.
Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz both seem to have invented Calculus at the same time - without either knowing what the other was doing!

In a world like that - anything is possible.

Mr.Finkelstein

" Think, Think, Think, we can change the reality of life if we first imagine what could be "

tiki

Sweet story....but what if your stream is a raging river? Boulders and rapids?

Half banana

I reckon you had a good teacher in Miss Allen. I think she well knew what humans need to get through life is the confidence to overcome problems and move on. This aspect of life is rarely in the school curriculum but so necessary! Miss Allen's thoughts were a realistic alternative to the traditional hope in help from spirit beings.

I had a similar experience where the teacher took our class out into the playing field so as not to be overheard, where we sat in the shade of a tree. In my case the teacher wanted to give us primary school kids the facts of life. I think like your teacher he too wanted to prepare young people with truthful information to help them in succeeding in life.

Good teachers are a boon.

1234

It's a shame that teachers are paid so little, many of them have more of an impact on kids than their own parents.

Yes, maybe life is a lot more simpler then we think.

I too believe our lives are "like a dream." I talk about this in my first novel "The persistent illusion"

PS By the way Terry good job once again.

Pete Zahut

It must be noted that although her students loved her dearly, school districts officials had long suspected that Miss Allen didn't always have both oars in the water.

Several weeks later the beloved Teacher was apprehended while consuming a Marijuana cigarette behind a Pecan tree just outside her classroom while her students were at recess and was sent up river to the Ft Worth Women's Correctional Center.

Who's merrily paddling their boat now, Miss Allen?

scary21

I loved your story Terry. Thank you so much for posting.

If you knew what I was going through right now you would know how helpful your little story is to me.

Love your humor Pete ! Your story is closer to my life LOL but I do try to laugh a lot ...

LV101

TERRY, TERRY, TERRY - how I LOVE your stories! I've missed so many and VOW to hunt them down from this moment forward. You would have made an excellent educator! Society still needs you - you'd be a great asset to the young (and OLD) minds.

Your 'Secret of Life' took me back in time to all the happy times I walked by the mammoth, pecan, tree, en route to my grandparents' home (my favorite place on planet earth) and all my grandfather's beloved date palms (fat trunk palms? - not sure). I loved that old, tall, pecan, tree. Please carry on - stay well!

Terry

I miss simple explanations wrapped in accessible songs and stories.
We live in a time of phony experts, gurus, talking heads, fake news,
faker fact-checkers, propagandists, and - well - who isn't??

THANKS to all for the kind reception.
I've searched the internet to try and track down what happened to old elementary school chums and it almost always is heart-breaking.

I guess I'd rather cling to the fond remembrance rather than the upshot.

As the aged Sean Connery said in a speech to an AFI award audience of industry big-shots:

"If Life is like a Play, as Shakespeare said - then all I've got to say
is: the 3rd act is SHIT."

The Secret of Life

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