Captain, May I take three baby steps?* As I was reading Keri’s stunning blog post this week about breaking glass ceilings with her new HULK persona (so in tune with this week’s class video, by the way), I was reminded of the childhood game, Captain, May I. In this game, one person is the captain. The other players stand across the yard and call out, in turn, to the captain, “Captain, May I take one giant step?” (or some certain combination of steps and numbers) The captain responds with “Yes, you may” or “No, you may not.” (Or something like that. It’s been nearly fifty years since I’ve played or even thought about playing, so the rules are bit fuzzy.) But if you’re not worrying about the competition of the game, baby steps, giant steps, and even scissor steps will all get you to the other side of the yard. Give yourself permission, and celebrate along the way.
Are you despairing on your journey, because you think you aren’t getting there fast enough? Maybe, like Arielle, you should remember it’s your last day on earth and stop to play with the Lincoln Logs (because that’s really fun!). Or take a few minutes to converse with a family member even if it isn’t earth-shatteringly important. It’s the little things that make a difference in people’s lives. Those baby steps. They turn out to be the most important steps of all.
- Upon further reflection, I think this game was called “Mother, May I?” I suppose you can use any authority figure you want. The concept is similar. As one might expect, Wikipedia has an entry.
Our life is actually the choices and decisions we make each moment of our day. With the Master Key, we are making them more in the present, which is awesome.
Cool. I used to play that game as a kid. And why not make our journey as such. Choose how we want to get there – giant step, baby steps (and I used to cheat and do it anyway, even without permission). After all, the true authority is only ourselves, right?
As I recall, that was part of the game — could we sneak in steps without getting caught. But the way you say it, Day, sounds so much better. Acting upon the only true authority.
My mother was the Captain, but it took me a long time to realize and admit it. Good job, Jean.
Ahh. The RealLife (™) version of the game.
Not only loved the post…loving all the comments as well! You are right. It’s the little things that make such a big difference in most people’s lives.
“Mother, May I?” was a game we played as well. Until I got to your last paragraph, I was smiling thinking that it was probably called by different names around the country. It’s all good! 🙂