Thoughts From Elliot Bay: Editorial

by Anna Forbes

Pioneer Square stands as one of the oldest districts in Seattle, and it also houses my new favorite bookstore, Elliot Bay Books. This old brick building and I were recently introduced by my best friend Emily. We pulled open the front double doors and stepped onto the creaky hardwood floor, at which point I was already captivated. After looking at stationery and the Staff Favorites section, she brought me to the dimly-lit café in the basement. I studied the posters that hung on the brick walls while a man with dreds and tattoos made my hazelnut Americano. This was Seattle.
I sipped my hot drink and scanned the wooden bookshelves, amazed at the size of the bookstore and the amount of information contained within its walls. Lately I’ve been lingering at the Biography and Religion sections. I suppose it’s because at my age, I’m making decisions that will set a pattern for the rest of my life, and I find some sort of inspiration from knowing how other people lived and how I ought to.
These past few months, I’ve thought a lot about my generation’s reputation. Let’s face it: many of us don’t know how to grow up, and quite frankly, we’re scared to. Sometimes I almost feel frozen in place, knowing I don’t want to go back in time but hesitant to step forward, uncertain of where I’ll land. I’m afraid to make the wrong choice, but I think that not making a decision is nearly the same as making the wrong one.
On the shelves in front of me sat the stories of Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther and Saint Augustine. Each of these remarkable men was at many points afraid of what the future would hold and wondered what would result from their decisions. Their fear didn’t stop them from doing what they had to. Churchill said this: “Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.” Such optimism in his words!
I stood there for several moments, mulling over these thoughts, and something in me changed. Ironically, I became aware of another choice. I can choose to take responsibility for my actions and take steps toward making things happen in my life, or I can wait on others to pick up the slack for me and straggle through life riding on everyone else’s accomplishments. As I see it now, that is what I’m choosing between. Personally, I would rather chase my dreams as hard as I can and see where God allows me to go with them. The adventure of this is so much greater than living a predictable life where no risks are taken simply for safety’s sake.
The pages of the books I looked at were black and white with words describing the fascinating lives of people who achieved great things with their efforts. They were not afraid to live with fear. They saw fear as the wind at their back; it wasn’t a wall to climb over. These great people embraced maturity and became adults capable of making good decisions. I am almost 22 years old and must do all I can to place myself in that same position.
Right now I’m drifting somewhere between childhood and adulthood, and although it seems like an endless fog right now, it won’t last long. We will all be something, and that will become clear soon enough. So whether you mentor children with special needs, start your own business, clean people’s teeth, or take beautiful pictures, do something that’s worth writing a book about.