Tangible Evidence

Often times it seems that so much time is spent getting things done during any given day. It's as if "Getting Things Done" is the primary focus of our lives. When exchanging phone calls with friends, the conversation always seems to either start or end with, "What're you doing today?". It's almost as if we're validated by how much we have to do or how much we've done.

But that's just it. How many times do we reach the end of the day with nothing really to show for our hard work except exhaustion?

Some nights I lay in bed recounting the day, and it hits me ... I have absolutely nothing to show for that day's work. 24 more hours of my life are gone with no tangible evidence of my existence. If I had accomplished none of what had left me exhausted at the end of the day it wouldn't have mattered more or less.

To be sure, the majority of days aren't like that. I can point to a mowed lawn, a bunch of papers for work, or the night's meal and say to myself, "See? You did something." Or perhaps I've put some process in place to make the day go smoother ... to provide more time for other things of more significance.

As I sit here and think about it, I spend a lot of time coming up with ways for others to be more productive. I have become an enabler of sorts, particularly where it comes to my children. So much is done behind the scenes to allow them the freedom to create and excel. This gives them something tangible that they can point to, which is extremely important at their ages as it builds the self confidence that they will need as adults if they are to move beyond me and my accomplishments. But merely being the enabler for my children often times leaves me with little else to point to aside from the tangible evidence of their day's work.

I wonder if I'm not alone.

Perhaps that's why so many parents do school projects for their children. You see it all the time. You're looking at the projects that line the school walls and there it is; work that leaves you thinking, "There's no way a fourth grader did that.".

I used to chalk it up as 'Little League Dad' syndrome, but maybe I've been wrong all this time. Maybe the parent wanted the 'A' so badly as a form of tangible evidence that the time they spent as an enabler for their child was not spent in vain that they were willing to push the child out of the picture altogether and do the project themselves.

If that's the case, maybe the parent should bake the child some cupcakes instead. At least that's a form of tangible evidence of a day's work that they both could enjoy.