Once a prompt asked me:

Ben Franklin once said, 'All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.'

Which are you?

When I first read this
I thought of a sad movie
And one half of the audience would be moved, and the tears would stream down their face
And the other half were immovable
They were unable to feel the emotions, unable to be moved to tears
Their faces remained like statues as they scoffed at the violins and the tombstones
And the makers of the movie were the ones who moved, at least half of the audience.

On second read
I thought of politicians
I thought of those who were the “movers and shakers”
The ones who went out and DID something
The rare politicians that did not care if they were re-elected as long as they DID something
And then I thought of the movables
The ones who try to please their bases
And slap smiles on their faces
and get the money for their re-election
Because they didn’t offend anyone
Or do anything
In their first term.
Then there are the immovable
Who don’t “reach across the aisle”
And we all hear about it on the news.

On the third read I thought that I better answer the question being asked.

Am I movable?
Well, yes
When a teacher asks me to do something, I do it
When a homeless person asks for money, I give it
If I was old enough, I would go out and vote
I am moved to tears
When Dumbo can’t reach his mother
And when my dad talks about when he thought his cancer had come back
so he took me to see “Mulan” for what he thought was the last time

Am I immovable?
I always refuse people’s cigarette offers
And I didn’t stop applying when people tell me that I cannot get accepted to all these universities
I did not move when my friends thought I was ridiculous
for being on top of my game in freshman year band
Because I knew that the audition for Drum Major started the first time I walked through that door

But do I also move?
When I play a solo on my saxophone, I try to move people
When I write a poem
or paint a painting
I’m trying to move others
My friends and family were moved when I won my awards and led the band
When I tell my friends to stop smoking
and start applying
and go out and vote
I’m trying to move
When that girl privately thanked me for speaking up for people on welfare in our mock government meeting
I think she was moved.
I think I moved one of my friends so well
That she wrote her Common App essay regarding how I helped her become a better her.

These are pretty menial things in the long run
but they are very important to me.
To answer the question, no person is just one
It’s the one we choose to embrace at the right moments that is important
I am all three.