“What a circus act we women perform every day of our lives. Look at us. We run a tightrope daily, balancing a pile of books on the head. Baby-carriage, parasol, kitchen chair, still under control. Steady now!” -Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Anne Morrow Lindbergh knew what she was talking about. Married to the highly popular aviator Charles Lindbergh, Anne balanced marriage, social obligations, motherhood, learning Morse code and how to operate the plane’s radio, rigorous training for an around-the-world flying assignment with her husband, encouraging women in the States to help the women in China after a terrible Yangtze River flood, coping with the death of a child by kidnapping, and a highly successful writing career. This woman was busy!
Most likely, you could compare your own life to a circus act of some sort. Or perhaps you could identify a job in the circus that closely mirrors your life.
Are you the unicyclist, wheeling through life with fewer resources than you would like? Or a juggler with too many things up in the air?
Are you the clown who entertains the crowds? Or the ringmaster who announces the acts and controls the flow of the entertainment? Is your life more like the wild animal tamer because there are people or emotions in your life you’d like to tame? Could you liken your life to the employee who cooks snacks for the crowds, taking care of their physical needs?
Perhaps you aren’t a performer. Maybe you feel more comfortable behind the scenes as a manager or a tent rigger.
To read a fascinating glossary of circus terms, click here.
Now it’s your turn: Write about your life as though you were a circus employee. Choose from one of the following options or make up one of your own.
1. Describe your day in terms of a day at the circus.
2. Write a personal narration showing how your life or a particular phase of it is like working at a circus.
3. Explain how your life is like performing a specific job at the circus.
