I must love the questions themselves…like locked rooms, full of treasures to which my blind and groping key does not yet fit. – Alice Walker
In about six hours, I find out if Real Joe is a finalist for Johnny Walker Scotch Whiskey’s Keep Walking Fund. I submitted a proposal on June 30 and hadn’t really thought much about it till this weekend.
I noticed their ad in the current issue of Men’s Journal so evidently they’re going to do another round this fall. If I don’t get funded, I’ll take another whack at it.
One of my sons asked me, after I made a joke about meeting him in NYC (where I’ll go for the finals), whether I’ll be really disappointed if I don’t get funded. Nah.
Well, maybe a little. I have been telling people I’ve got a good feeling about it, which is true. So I’ll have to say “Oops, I guess I was wrong.” I’m not one to fake a “Oh, I’m sure my chances are extremely slim, there are likely to be so many more deserving BLAH BLAH BLAH…” And being wrong about this is no big deal anyway. I’m not counting on it, nothing critical depends on it, and I’ve got plenty of options in the works.
I wonder, though. Is Real Joe a big question, a locked room, and might this money be a key?
Or maybe Real Joe is my key to the locked room labelled “What does the world need?” That’s really the bigger issue that I can’t lose sight of.