ICEBERGS
Stay with me because I find them fascinating. Did you know? An iceberg is calved from a glacier, glaciers take thousands of years to form from compressed snow and are made of fresh, drinkable water. An iceberg, therefore, is fresh frozen water floating in open salty water. Because they are covered in snow, they appear to be white but can be a variety of colors, striped and even rainbow colored. Icebergs are carried from their glacier of origin by the winds and currents toward warmer waters. Being instable, they can flip without notice and 90% of the iceberg is below the water line with a width 20 to 30% larger than what is visible. You now understand the expression, “tip of the iceberg.” It takes thousands of years to form but once an iceberg is free of the glacier, the life span is short – 3 to 6 years.
Icebergs and people are fascinating, and they share some similarities.
I offer myself as an example. Even as I do so, I would encourage you to examine yourself through the lens of the iceberg. The “what you see” and possibly love of me, at best, is 10% of who I am. I am one of three remaining icebergs of the twelve produced by “glacier” parents. The others have melted as has my parents. What you see – the tip of the iceberg – is a confident, colorful, woman of color with her own sense of style…smiling, life of the party, extrovert person. What you don’t see are the life experiences that were compressed into my parents and thus into me to make this iceberg. Growing up on a farm in rural Georgia taught me how to self soothe, rise early, and work hard. Caustic remarks by others created a thick skin. I am an introvert; I spend a lot of time alone processing my thoughts. I try to practice loving unconditionally and am the recipient of it. I live by a personal code of ethics. I am well-traveled. But you don’t see that and so much more, it is below the surface.
I am not unique. I am uniquely me. You are uniquely you. We all have stuff that lies below the surface.
The me of today is not the me that my siblings grew up with on the farm nor am I the me that my oldest friend met on the first day of college. The current me is not the me that my husband met and fell in love with more than 4 decades ago. As the winds, waves, and currents of life have pushed me into the warmer waters, melting has happened. Each person encountered sees a slightly different 10% and each encounter contributes to the me 90% unseen.
Like an iceberg, I will eventually melt completely. I will become fully integrated into what I have been floating in as an iceberg. Some may call this death. I see it as melted to life.
PONDER THIS THOUGHT--- Accept what is visible. Look to know the invisible.
