Sunday, June 21, 2015

THE WIDGET OF WORDS

Floyd Finding Floyd Inspirational Christian writing 14 Comments

One of my favorite cartoons as a tyke was the Flintstones, although I didn’t like the part in the intro when Fred’s sabertooth house cat tossed him outside. Another cartoon I got a kick out of was the Jetsons.

The idea of future living with all the modern conveniences was mind marveling, especially to a kid watching on a black and white TV from a humble abode. I recall considering where George Jetson worked as being a place where they made what could have been considered “widgets”. They made sprockets. I don’t fault the writers of the cartoon for not seeing the digital age coming…

George’s boss, Mr, Spacely, of Spacely’s Sprockets fame, was a gruff entrepreneur that pushed George, the slacker, for more production, always more production.

Of course, what would a good story be without conflict? To fill the role of the antagonist, there was Mr. Coswell of Coswell’s Cogs. The cog being his widget, another name for sprockets. He was Mr. Spacely’s competition and arch nemesis.

Even as a kid I instinctively knew that both Mr. Spacely and Mr. Coswell were fighting for more than business that equaled money, they were fighting for pride sake.

In real life some of us play the role of the George Jetson type; the folks just longing for a decent life and working just enough to live it. Others are like Mr. Spacely and Mr. Coswell; pushing to get and be more.

Regardless of where we land in comparison to cartoon characters, most of us provide a service in exchange for money. We produce our “widget” for others. We provide a value to other folks that are willing to part with their hard earned green backs to have or hold the widget we produce.

All of us are part of the process without exception. Rich folks that just invest their money require other people to track and measure, which means employment. Even retired folks support the widgets or services of others. Everybody eats, gets their electric and or gas meters read. We’re all reliant on others for goods and services.

Then there are the different kinds of widgets, the optional kind, the non-necessity type of widgets, like say a cruise on a ship… or how bout this, the widget of words.

The “widget of words” came to me as I was writing another prospective literary agent. I’ve been in business a long time and know my widget fairly well, but knowing one widget and the commonalities associated with it isn’t the same for all widgets… especially the widget of words.

We all use words, but it’s a rare and select group that gets to turn their word widgets into intellectual property. Some of us share words like Jane, George’s wife, always in wisdom and always in love and always to help. I think that describes most of the eyes rolling over this widget of words.

Where and when being proud turns egocentrical only God knows. Even the fine things we do to try to honor God and fulfill our calling can slip fast into the flesh. That’s when the Mr. Spacely in us rears his cartoon head.

I remind myself of things like this… just in case the crickets one day do stop chirping…

I can only imagine how much more painful the rejections from agents would be if I used the video phones first introduced on the cartoon called the Jetsons…