In Life There Are...

 

Turning Points

“And then the day came

When the risk to remain

Tight in the bud was

More painful than the

Risk to bloom.”

Anais Nin

            Turning points occur from time to time in everyone’s life, and in the life of a nation and the world. It’s a day when people realize that change has already come, is upon us as we speak, and will not reverse itself without attention. In one’s personal journey, that might be a decision to marry, or to have a child, to divorce, to quit one profession and train for a new one, or to leave one area of the world and move to one that is vastly different. The death of a spouse is a major turning point.

As for nations, turning points can be wars, the death of a president, the cleaving apart caused by deep ideological divisions. In my lifetime, there have been several in America—the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, and the subsequent murders of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy in 1968. The resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974, and the attack on the World Trade Centers and Pentagon in 2001. The January 6^th insurrection also qualifies as a turning point. All of these have forced us to look at ourselves differently, to point fingers at each other, and to grieve the loss of innocence we believed ourselves to have. I am sure for citizens of the United Kingdom yesterday’s death of Queen Elizabeth signaled a turning point.

            Turning points are sometimes predictable and sometimes come out of the blue. Some are welcome, and some are devastating. Their common theme: they usher in a time of change, a new direction for the individual or the country, and life feels chaotic until that new direction is established. It evokes a feeling of being in limbo, when we can’t go forward and can’t go back. Sometimes the search for what’s next takes decades and we spend inordinate amounts of time and energy stamping out small bushfires, quelling little skirmishes, sorting through piles of documents, examining evidence. Limbo can last a long time and it is never comfortable.

            Turning points require consciousness. We must first recognize them as such—from now on, my life will be different, our common lives are forever changed. There is no going back. I/We must step boldly into the present and face the future. In other words, we have a new reality. We can’t ignore it.

            Even in the face of division, even in the presence of anger and argument, I believe we will make it—individually and collectively. We will because we must. There is only one direction to go and that is forward in faith. We have survived thus far, and we will continue. But we will be different; and maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe, we will bloom.

                                                            In the Spirit,

                                                            Jane