I cannot get this question out of my mind . . .

Whose shoulders are you standing on?

I am on a three-week trip that has included seeing lots of family and friends, including my 90 year-old-Dad, who is in the process of buying a house on a thirty-year mortgage.

Whose shoulders are you standing on?

That and a glimpse of the last 10 minutes of the movie “Pay It Forward” a few weeks ago, has me thinking about who I am, how I came to be me, and who has helped me along the way.

That led me to ask myself “Whose shoulders are you standing on?”

Which led me to another question, “What could you do about it?”

I don’t have all the answers yet, but I have started a list. 

My list includes family – near, far, immediate and extended; friends – near, far, new, old, friends of friends, and friends yet to be; teachers and professors; bosses and colleagues; librarians and kind tech support providers; musicians; artists; authors; actors; architects; philosophers; scientists; counselors; clergy; doctors, dentists, and nurses; farmers; grocers; road repair crews; snow shovel teams; mosquito sprayers; crop dusters; pilots; conductors; astronauts; police and fire fighters; botanists and park rangers; garbage, antique and tax collectors; construction, social, post office and government workers; child-care providers and the pilgrims.

I think you get the picture.

My world is much more interrelated and interdependent than I like to believe, sometimes I see myself as a self-starter, but really I am a simply a bit of a doer skipping across a vast sea of shoulders that have offered their support  – past and present.

 “Whose shoulders are you standing on?”

 “What could you do about it?”