Those of us with long memories who live in the Bay Area East Bay remember the Oakland Fire Storm of 1991. Who could forget the terrible conflagration that scorched the hillsides, burned innumerable structures and took some lives! Yes, the memories are difficult but there is one image that stands out in my mind. As cameras were sweeping the disaster area, there was one that caught the picture of a bare flower stalk that survived the onslaught and was gingerly waving on torched ground that was still sparsely smoking. Suddenly a bird came to rest easily on the stalk, seemingly unaware of the disaster that had just preceded its flight.
The energies of life...
As I watched the simple scene which unfolded so naturally, it seemed to me that life just keeps on coming. No matter what the losses or sorrows we may be experiencing, life keeps emerging with new possibilities. We may need to stop for rest and comfort, but life does not. It cannot. Something and someone is always being born, whether or not we find ourselves ready or willing. We may wish to linger in our sadness, but the energies of life keep nosing through the mists of pain with its perpetually emerging newness.
Welcome it...
Certainly we can take the time we wish to let ourselves heal from difficult circumstances, and so we should. Our humanity needs and deserves it. But we should be aware that life will not let us stay too long in our tears. It just keeps on coming, and we might as well welcome it because we are a part of its continuous message.
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