I was sitting on my back porch a few days ago winding down from the day and thinking about my future. I tend to do that more and more the older I become. I do realize I am living in the fourth quarter of my life, and whether I like it or not, the game is not too far from being over. As I’ve aged, my mind has become less cluttered than it was when I was younger. My dreams and goals as a young man were far, deep, and wide. And they should be when one starts out on their journey in life.

The goals of my youth focused primarily around making a lot of money and having a hugely successful career. At my age today, those goals do not even make my list. I’m not sure if that’s a bad thing or not, but from what I can tell, goals that were once far, deep, and wide, are much narrower today. I guess you can say I have whittled my wants down a bit.

Sitting in my chair pondering the days ahead, I noticed a squirrel carrying a pecan in his mouth scurrying along the top of my backyard fence. It was in no hurry, stopping every few feet to look around and adjust the pecan it was carrying.

I have two big Labrador Retrievers, and it did not take long for them to spot the squirrel encroaching on their territory. They both ran towards the squirrel, barking wildly and jumping onto the side of the fence trying to protect their space.

But that squirrel paid my dogs no attention. It calmly scrolled along the top of the fence just inches away from the barking beast. The squirrel knew it was in no danger, so it proceeded without cause for concern. It was unfazed and undistracted.

It even appeared that the squirrel stopped intentionally just to taunt my dogs, and with a flick of its tail, it would move on.

Even with danger snapping at its heels, that squirrel walked on without fear. I guess you could say that squirrel was focused on one thing and one thing only, getting that pecan back to its nest.

I couldn’t help but apply this little event to my life. I wish I could be like that squirrel at times, not getting distracted by things around me that I think may prevent me from getting where I want to be in life. As hard as my dogs tried to scare that squirrel and knock it off that fence, it remained focused, relaxed, and undistracted.

I was watching a show a few weeks ago and the great actor Denzel Washington was being interviewed. The person conducting the interview asked him how he had become to be considered as one of the greatest actors of our time, he smiled, chuckled to himself embarrassed by that statement and replied,

“Well, I don’t know about that, but what I do know is that when I was young, I thought I knew everything. As I’ve gotten older, I have realized that I don’t know anything. It’s not about doing everything in life, it’s about focusing on a few important things in life. Family, faith, friends, helping others, that’s what’s important, everything else is just a distraction. It took me several years to learn that.”

I can relate to that, I used to think I knew everything also, and I had an opinion available if needed.

What a great answer from a great actor. Everything outside of family, faith, friends and helping others is just a distraction.

A distraction is anything that prevents someone from giving their full attention to something or someone else. Distracted drivers get in wrecks every day.

When I was much younger, I thought I would live forever, but there’s something about turning sixty that made me realize I wouldn’t. So, I learned something last week from Denzel Washington and that squirrel. Distractions are all around us, but if we focus on what is important in life, we can pay them no mind.

“You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.”

– Winston Churchill

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Todd Howey is a columnist for BrownwoodNews.com whose articles appear on Fridays. Email comments to thowey63@gmail.com.