Begging pardon this evening. This has been one long day, the continuation of those that went before and those that will surely come after, beginning tomorrow. I am grateful for the love and concern of friends and family. These days I wrap myself in it like a blanket and can rest in it. While I might prefer life to be easier, and I definitely do, it is a true testament of the care that they have for me that in the midst of truly trying times, they show up. Tonight I received a much-needed pep talk from one of my brothers. Toward the end of the conversation he said, “You know how we are…” and he saluted me, just like the photograph we each have of my father saluting. The photo is situated on a shelf directly across from my bed–I see it when I first wake up and it is one of the last things I see before I go to sleep. “We don’t give up,” he reminded me, then shrugging went on to say, “whether we like it or not, we keep going. It’s who we are.”
He’s right of course. We don’t give up. We may get tired and sometimes have to do whatever it takes just to keep putting one foot in front of the other. But we don’t give up or quit. I do think there are times when it’s alright to surrender, when it’s alright to stop fighting against a particular situation or circumstance, stop trying to swim upstream and simply let go and see where the flow takes you. I see that as being very different from giving up, though as weary as I am tonight, I would be hard pressed to come up with a coherent explanation.
Being that I fell asleep twice while writing this blog, and that it is almost tomorrow, I believe I will sign off. I am reminded that when difficulties arise, I need to remind myself that this too will pass. I have my challenges, many of which pale in comparison with what others endure and some of which some other person somewhere couldn’t imagine dealing with. What is difficult and unendurable for one person is daily life for someone else, and circumstances that might seem “but a light affliction” might seem incredibly harsh to someone else. It really all is relative. Tonight I choose to deal with whatever may come my way with as much grace as I can muster and to hold in compassion those for whom life is unbearable.
George Washington Carver said, “How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong — because someday you will have been all of these.” So true, Dr. Carver, so true. May we all be free from suffering and the root of suffering. May we know happiness and the root of happiness. So be it!
