Life, director of the comedy, always
lets things get a little out of hand.
We all know what would be normal and
right, but the right horse sometimes finishes last in the race, and the
jerk has all the money.The wise people, like us, are
ignored by all, and the good woman gets in trouble with the law. The saint cheats on his income tax,
but he never gets caught the way the needy ones like us do, and the
worst sinners get saved in the nick of time, while the fittest
sometimes just drop dead.If all the best laid plans go wrong,
maybe we are meant to learn that such important things aren't so
important, after all. If the skies are custard pies
waiting to plop down on our hopeful faces, maybe it is best to accept
the gift, count it a blessing, and lick our chops.
Look, the wind vane fluttering in the
autumn breeze
Takes hold of certain things that cannot
be held.
-- Feng Chih
When we think we are losing our
grip, we have good reason to look up. Consider the moon suspended in
the sky, how it continues to come and go, follows its natural law, and
never really loses face.Consider the sun, the stars, the
seasons, how they refuse to abandon us, to let go of their hold on our
lives. And come closer to home. We can marvel at the magic of small
efficient things -- the toaster and stove, the light in the room, the
words in a good book that are permanent, faithful, and clear.We can consider how music, without
saying a word, still speaks to us, and how a few friends, maybe miles
away, continue to hang on to the strength of our small and faithful
words.We can keep in mind that we are part
of a complex and loving system, and our grip can never be lost.
A musician must make music, an artist
must paint,
a poet must write, if he is to be at
peace with himself.
What a man can be, he must be.
-- Abraham Maslow
The same is true of a seamstress,
carpenter,
homemaker, lawyer, or mechanic. The question is, Who and what am I?What must I do to be at peace with
myself? What can I be, for that is what I
must be? A lucky few of us find the answers
to these questions fairly early in life, and we work to develop into
the people we can be and must be. We do that by looking at our deepest
desires, and ask what would bring fulfillment for us. We ask what we would enjoy doing
most, what we believe we have the ability to be really good at. What is it that sometimes burns
within us to be expressed or done? The answers to what we can be, what
we must be, come from within, through asking ourselves these questions.What kind of a person am I capable
of being?
