Illumination Writing Challenge

If I Were a Verb, Which One Would I Be?

Can I pick more than one?

Sometimes writing prompts or challenges can be fun or silly, but other times they require us to reflect upon ourselves before we respond. This challenge by Desiree Driesenaar is one of those “reflect” ones.

She even pulls out an introspective quote by Buckminster Fuller:

“I live on Earth at present, and I don’t know what I am. I know that I am not a category. I am not a thing — a noun. I seem to be a verb, an evolutionary process — an integral function of the universe.”

She then prods further and asks if Mr. Fuller’s analysis is true, what particular verb would each of us be?

It is a simple question, and yet the answer is inherently complex. First of all, the essence of a verb is change. If you think of most any sentence, things are different after the verb comes on the scene. Actively or passively, something has changed, even if it is only the perspective of the one taking the action.

So, at its core, Mr. Fuller’s assertion disallows a single answer. We probably aren’t verbs as much as we are a series of verbs.

I find that particularly poignant, however, as it is a way to acknowledge and come to terms with the progression of our lives. Rasheed Hooda does a great job of capturing this concept with his verb: Flow

The other way the answer is complicated is that we don’t see ourselves as verbs. We tend to align our being as nouns who perform a verb. We qualify and define by making ourselves a performer, or writer, or welder. We add that “-er” to the end of the verb and own it that way.

And, in many ways, that allows us to add many tags to ourselves in a rather offhand manner, without committing much to the concept. It allows us the ability to limit the extent to which our actions define our being.

It gets much harder when we have to pick a single verb to express who we are. If you don’t believe me, try it!

I love football (soccer). In a period of time that now seems like years ago (back in February), I played indoor soccer every Sunday morning. Indoor soccer is a faster-moving version with relatively high scoring, especially when you are playing more for fun and fitness than anything else.

As such, it is reasonable to expect to score a goal or two at each outing. Maybe more on good days, and if I play two games rather than one.

I love it, but I am not that good at it. I didn’t play as a kid, only took it up as an adult. I am merely adequate at dribbling and really any other skill involved. However, I do seem to have a good sense for the flow of the game and a knack for being in the right place at the right time.

Because of that, I do often end up being the one to tap in a ball for the goal. Typically, that is on the end of someone else’s great skill at dribbling and a fantastic pass. I just poke the ball in the net. Often times I just feel more like a bumper in a pool game as the ball bounces off my foot into the goal.

And yet, as is tradition in football, the goal scorer is feted tremendously. You can see this in professional leagues as well. The person that scores is dog piled by teammates or rips off their shirt frantically runs around the pitch and smiles and waves to the crowd.

Not much attention is paid to the one that created the chance. People tend to forget about, downplay, or ignore the assist. And yet it is the foundation for the score. The goal wouldn’t have happened without it in most cases.

Scoring goals is fun; no doubt. But, in actuality, I appreciate being able to create and contribute to the goal scoring much more than the other way around. Given a choice, I would rather make the assist than the goal.

I am finding that to be more and more true in real life as well. I have done some really cool things. I have been in the limelight, I have been the hero of a few stories, and I have notched several accomplishments that most people consider to be admirable.

But time and again, especially as I have gotten older, I find that I get way more satisfaction, joy and happiness from helping others succeed and accomplish their goals. I love watching my children hit life milestones and celebrating their triumphs.

I mentored a young woman I met in the Mountaineers club and helped her secure a job as a firefighter in a nearby department after her attempts to get into nursing school hit a brick wall and she made a career course correction. The day she called me and told me she had gotten two simultaneous job offers from different fire departments was extremely exciting!

Likewise, as fire chief, I wrote letters of recommendation for one of our battalion chiefs to obtain his Chief Fire Officer Designation, which is a pretty big deal in the American fire service. I felt a much greater sense of accomplishment for having helped him, than when I received the same certification 8 months later.

Part of it certainly is that I don’t really like to be on the end of much fanfare. I tend to treat milestones as just that. Not a destination, but a marker on my journey. But I also legitimately love to help people. I just get more of a “high” out of other peoples’ success rather than my own.

So now that I have made you suffer through all the football analogy, I guess it is time to reveal my verb.

Assist

Like football, I don’t pretend that I am all that great at it, but I truly enjoy being able to assist others. So, just like any verb, I plan on getting better with practice.

Hey, practice is a pretty good verb too…

Let’s hear those verbs team!

Ryan Fan, Sharon Hurley Hall, Bob Jasper, Michele Thill, Tim Maudlin, Catherine Pugh, Esq., Rosennab, P.G. Barnett, Henery X (long), Sherry McGuinn, George J. Ziogas, Christina Hoag iWrite!, B. A. Cumberlidge. Jyssica Schwartz, Jennifer Rosater, Roz Warren, Mallika Vasak, Michele Thill, Keno Ogbo, Terry Mansfield, Kathryn A. LeRoy, Ph.D. Aurora Eliam, CMP Joe Luca

If you like this, you might like some of my other recent writing, including my July daily roundup of writing challenges such as this one:

And a recent response prior to this challenge:

And a wrap up of June’s final week of new writer stories:

Timothy Key spent over 26 years in the fire service as a firefighter/paramedic and various fire chief management roles. He firmly believes that bad managers destroy more than companies, and good managers create a passion that is contagious. Compassion, grace and gratitude drive the world; or at least they should. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and join the mail list.