Being
Alive
“I
have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable...but
through it all I still knew quite certainly that just to be alive is
a grand thing.”
Agatha
Christie
Ahhh...life!
With all its 10,000 joys and 10,000 sorrows, it's still the best
thing we've got going for us, isn't it? Perhaps your life is smooth
sailing from dusk 'til dawn, from daylight to dark, but for most
folks the road ahead is hills and valleys. Sometimes the terrain is
so steep, we can't imagine a way out. I think every single day, about
the people in Syria, Gaza, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sierra Leone, Guinea,
Liberia, Sudan, and so many other places around the world where
existence is threatened on a daily basis by war or disease, or both.
I remember the simple, yet profound teaching of the Dalai Lama that
all beings just want to be happy and at peace. We all want the same
things—to go about our daily lives without fear and with the
ability to care for our families in safety.
And
yet...even when life is impossibly difficult, we hold on. We love
life. I heard on the news a couple of weeks ago that Africa is the
continent most likely to have a population explosion in the next
twenty years. The indomitable soul of humanity is alive and well in
that place. Regardless of relentless war, of Ebola and AIDS and
malaria, that spirit cannot be contained.
Even
when life is routine, boring, or harsh, terrifying, even miserable,
we hold on because we know that just being alive is a precious thing
indeed. Maybe, around the next corner, beyond the next hill, the next
valley, hope and the spirit of love are leading us to a place of
peace and wholeness. May it be so.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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