Constant Vigilance

Throughout my childhood, my dad would read aloud to my siblings and I. One chapter a night from Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings or Eragon. Dad would do all the voices and embody the various characters. One of Dad’s favorite characters was Mad Eye Moody. Introduced to us in the fourth Harry Potter book, Mad Eye Moody was a crazy old coot with an eye patch who hunted evil wizards. He was a grizzled and paranoid, jaded by a life of being in danger and dealing with bad guys. Throughout the book, he repeatedly professed the idea of constant vigilance, of being aware of your surroundings at all times or someone will sneak up behind you and curse you. CONSTANT VIGILANCE! My Dad would holler every time Mad Eye Moody would appear in the pages. 

My Dad loved the idea of CONSTANT VIGILANCE. So much so that he would, and still does, sneak up behind you at random times and thunder the words in your ear. Dad believed that you can succeed and survive in your life far better if you are always paying attention. Whether it is dodging accidents or seizing opportunities, CONSTANT VIGILANCE is always useful. 

As my my high school football coach, Dad always told players to “keep their head on a swivel.” Be ready for things coming up on your blind side. Every time a player would get de-cleated by a blind side block, the first words from the sideline were “keep your head on a swivel! Constant vigilance!” You spend a couple Sundays with ice packs after getting crack blocked a couple times, you learn to be hyper aware of your surroundings. 

Defensive driving was another of Dad’s missions for his children. Watch oncoming cars carefully. Notice how big trucks swing wide on turns and take longer to speed up and slow down. Keep your head on swivel when driving at sunset when there are deer in the road. It wasn’t just being aware of potential danger from others. Sometimes constant vigilance meant paying attention to what you are doing, so you don’t hurt someone else. Be aware of pedestrians and bicycles and give them plenty of room. His repeated sermons about constant vigilance were exasperating until that first time I nearly hit a stopped school bus because I was daydreaming on my way to high school. A couple more close calls with cars running red lights, and suddenly, I was preaching constant vigilance as well. 

Last week, a former teacher of mine was hit by a car and killed while biking to work. I will never know what caused the accident, but I never ever want to be that person who wasn’t paying attention for two minutes and caused a life changing accident. Unlike Mad Eye Moody, we don’t have to worry about evil wizards sneaking up and casting curses. But in a world that is moving faster every day, and is full of distractions that didn’t even exist when I was growing up, CONSTANT VIGILANCE is more important than ever.