Square One

Begin Again

“There is no such thing as 'going back to square one.' Even if you feel like you're having to start over, you're trying again with more knowledge, strength, and power than you had before...”

Pintrest

Have you ever wondered where the expression “going back to square one” came from? There are several opinions about its origin, from the grid of a rugby pitch, to the squares drawn on a sidewalk for hopscotch. I favor the latter—having played a lot of hopscotch as a child. When we say it nowadays, we usually mean “starting over.” The immediate image that comes to mind is of the folks down in Lee County, Alabama, whose homes were wiped off the face of the earth last weekend. The devastation of a tornado is mind boggling. Seeing them out picking through the debris, searching for something—anything—familiar is simply heart breaking. The same is true no matter where we are on this round earth—Syria, Mexico Beach, Puerto Rico, Indonesia, California—when disaster strikes we “go back to square one.”

When my kids were small, we played a lot of Chutes and Ladders. The board is composed of numbered squares on which are multiple ladders and chutes. To play the game, you spin and move square to square. Every player begins at square one. If you land at the bottom of a ladder, you get to race ahead, but if you land at the top of a chute, you have to slide back down. The goal is to be the first to reach the final square. Isn't that how life is—sometimes you race ahead and think you're winning the game, and suddenly, you're sliding down a chute, right back to square one. Starting over is something we do at regular intervals. Life is constructed that way.

Square one isn't all bad. Our life-grid isn't flat like a Chutes and Ladders game, or a rugby pitch. It's more like an ascending spiral. We start at the bottom, and come back to what seems like the same place, but we are one rung higher. We bring with us whatever experience has been gained from the beginning. Sometimes we have several rounds of confronting the same situation, the same problem, but each time we come to it more informed than the time before. Hopefully, a little wiser. It's the way deep-seated issues get worked out—problems that can be traced back for generations—one rung at a time.

I heard an interview yesterday with people in Paradise, California, which was destroyed in November, 2018, by the Camp Fire. They are now deciding what and how to rebuild—starting at square one, since there is nothing left from before the fire. Except, of course, for them; except for their indomitable spirits. They will start over, remembering how it was before, and building something brand new. As much as we don't like starting over, and certainly not from the smoldering embers of a forest fire, or the debris field of a tornado, we do. We stand up, lift up our spirits, and begin again. We're made that way. We're survivors.

                                                              In the Spirit,

                                                                  Jane