Protecting your bandwidth

Everyone has to find their own path. Our journey is the constant in our lives. Not everyone gets married, goes to college, has children, goes into the military, or holds a 9-to-5 job. But whatever you are doing, or choose to do, use your platform and bandwidth wisely.

Bandwidth is vital when it comes to determining the quality of internet service and it’s just as important in our purpose. All it takes is someone hijacking our personal bandwidth with their overbearingness, and it can throw our life purpose and scramble or garble our inner truth and message. In essence, we can forget who we are. I’m afraid that’s happening in our society. Many have forgotten who they are and from where they came.

Stand up for your convictions and what you believe in. Don’t let the loud voices silence you or dim your light. The loudest voices rarely represent the majority. They’re usually speaking for the extremes. We see that all the time on social media. People talk a big game and then don’t show up or follow through when it truly counts. Don’t let the loud determine the nature of your sound. It not only makes for poor harmony and diminishes your song, and if everyone goes silent then all that is left is noise.

The late Taylor Hawkins, drummer for the Foo Fighters, summed up it up quite nicely when he said, “In hindsight, if I could go back in time and relay a message to my younger self, I would tell him to work on his timekeeping, and that the job of a drummer is not to be the one that gets noticed the most on stage, or to be the fastest, or the loudest. Above all, it is to be the timekeeper.”

The state of the world is confusing a large portion of our society and suddenly many people have the misconception that a successful life is defined by internet likes and shares and a false stardom as an influencer on social media. The only thing that matters in life is living an authentic one. One where you are comfortable in your own skin and public opinions don’t matter to you. It’s glorious and freeing to live only by your own expectations.

In a world where people are looking for distractions, we should look inward and ask ourselves, “Have I helped someone today? Have I held the hand of someone in need of a listener? What’s one positive move I’ve made to help my community? Did I show up when it counted? Tomorrow, what more can I do to ease someone’s suffering or pain?”

There’s nothing glamorous about doing the right thing. In fact, the true heroes in our communities are those who quietly go about their business helping others with no thought for personal gain. There’s no camera or spotlight on them and that’s the way it is with true service to others. The most important element of the story of Superman is not the superhero himself. The most important person in the story is ordinary Clark Kent, who goes on to do miraculous things. We are all Clark Kent. We all go about our daily lives and wish we could do something incredibly courageous and wonderful. Never forget that you can.

The heart of the next generation is up for grabs, so it’s more important than ever that we protect our bandwidth and use it for good.

•••

Pam Lowe is editor of the Clay County Courier in Corning. Her email address is pamlowe@claycountycourier. com.