Not bound for the Hall of Fame

I love this picture, taken after the "cattle drive" in Fort Worth last week.  At first I thought I loved it for the light, or for its iconic quality.  But catching sight of it again today, I suspect the image is actually more ironic than iconic.

I say that because he's a cowboy, and he's heading for the Cowboy Hall of Fame.  And don't we all think that?  Each of us secretly, or perhaps not so secretly, hopes to someday be in some hall of fame -- the blogger hall of fame, or the artist hall of fame, or the lawyer hall of fame... whatever it is that we do, there's something in us that longs for recognition.

But at some point most of us figure out we're probably not going to end up in any Hall of Fame.  So what do we do with that?

Hafiz has a wonderful answer:

"Now is the time to know
that all you do is sacred...

Now is the time to understand
that all your ideas of right and wrong
were just a child's training wheels,
to be laid aside when you could finally
live with veracity and courage."

Do we really need to end up in a Hall of Fame? Not if we understand that everything we do is sacred. Not if we can point to our lives and say, "I did it.  I lived -- to the best of my ability -- with veracity and courage.  And with that I can be content."

So.  In the immortal words of journeying children everywhere -- Are we there yet?