My best friend of sixty years, Bill Banta, is a great lawyer & fine tennis player. I asked him to describe me.

   He said, "Remember when we played tennis? You never play. I play all the time. Yet, you went after every shot whether you could return it or not? That's who you are."   

   He is right.

   We are labeled. Someone asks another who we are. People use brands. "She's nice." or "He's a jerk."

   Otherwise, we are often described by what we do rather than who we are. With the famous it is easier. Who was Martin Luther King, Jr? He led the integration of the south. Florence Nightingale? Founder of modern nursing. Emily Dickinson? The greatest American poet of the 19th century.

   Only headlines. But better than the banalities lazily used at funerals. "He was a good dad & husband & hard worker. " Or, "She was so sweet."

   Do we care? I did until I realized that it is how we describe ourselves to ourself that matters. Not the obituary.

   Once before I did the one sentence exercise & offered this: "I went after too much and got it." It summarizes what Bill implied years ago.  

   The sentence is confounding, confusing & accurate. Good or bad? Both. Successful or not? Both. Did I have a good life or not? Both. Did I follow my own motto: live love not fear? Yes & no. 

   I like a compliment another friend offered after looking at my photographs. "Eyes were not wasted on you, Erie," she said. Life was not wasted on me either because of one trait that remains: a persistent passion to help others. 

  A wish lantern was released at your birth. What came true? How would you describe yourself? Remember. Just one sentence. 

-Erie Chapman

"Wish Lantern" – by Erie Chapman, 2011