Staying
Positive
“You're
going through tough times—that's life. But I say, 'Nothing happens
to you, it happens for you.' See the positive in negative events.”
Joel
Osteen
When
my son, Ian, was a little boy, he had an imaginary friend named
Ki-Ki. Ki-Ki had many adventures in highly unlikely places because
Ian had, and has, a fertile imagination. He loved telling us stories
about what Ki-Ki was up to, and his older brother, Jake, wiser by
seven years, would roll his eyes and say, “You do realize
that this requires willing suspension of disbelief!” Well, in my
humble opinion, Joel Osteen's quote at the top of the page also
requires willing suspension of disbelief.
I
find it very, very difficult to find the positive in such negative
events as the Ebola crisis. I don't believe it's happening for anybody. There is, however, an obscure silver
lining for some of us, though not for the thousands of people in
Western Africa who are dying in droves. We are learning to reduce our
smug assumption that we have the best and the greatest medical care
in the world, and instead, look at what we need to do, how we need to
train, to protect as many people as we can. As our President likes to
say, “This is a teachable moment.” Perhaps even a world-unifying moment.
We
had a conversation in the Spirituality Group on Sunday about the
omnipresence of God—not as a supernatural being, but as the
totality of the whole. Someone asked, “Does this mean that the ISIS
fighters are included?” It gave me pause. I think the only way to
answer that is to ask another question, “What can we learn from
this horrific event?” Not just 'we Americans', but 'we humanity'.
Is this particular time in our shared history happening in order to shine a
light on an important lesson?
Accentuating
the positive is important, especially when it comes to human foibles.
Despair and fatalism are hardly ever good choices. William James
said, “Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help
create the fact.” In spite of all the darkness, life is a precious
gift today and everyday.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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