The Cape

I was in a conversation with a leader recently.

At one point, something landed. What had been unclear suddenly had shape, and it landed with a thud.

Shoulders dropped. Confidence wavered.

Almost immediately, I felt the pull.

To step in. To reassure. To ease what had just surfaced.

To put the cape on.

I resisted.

Not because it didn’t matter, but because something else was happening.

Not before the discomfort. In it.

And if I had moved too quickly, I would have cut across it.

Relief would have come.

But at a cost.

I would have been part of that.

I’ve been wondering how often we do that.

A moment of clarity appears.

It is quickly covered over.

Not because we don’t care.

But because we don’t stay with it long enough for it to take hold.

And without that,

nothing holds.

Paul