911
I wrote this yesterday, but hesitated on posting it.
This time last year, I was still in Iraq at the request of my Uncle Sam, not knowing from one moment to the next whether I would be alive or dead. I wasn’t too concerned about it either way, as by that time, I had made my peace with God and was willing to follow His will.
This morning, after a wonderful weekend with my love and her daughter, I was driving to work. It is a long way from her farm in the country to my job in the city. About half way along the route, I came upon a deadly, multiple-vehicle collision. One car had been turned upside-down, and its roof had been partially collapsed. Several people were on the scene, but because the accident was fresh, there were no police or fire-rescue officials at the scene.
As I passed, I began to get a strange sensation, and somehow I knew, I felt it in my soul, that the spirit of a person in that overturned vehicle was beginning to move on, beginning to leave the body. A whole series of emotions began to move through me then. At first, I began to cry in mourning for the person who might be dying. Then, it occurred to me that even a life that has passed on is beautiful, as it perpetuates new life. The perception that life is finite or only in the here-and-now is an illusion: as one life moves on, it gives rise to new life and the circle is sustained. Then I made a blessing for those souls around me, including the one in the overturned car. All of this occurred in a very short span of time, and I did not stop at the accident scene because there were already too many people stopped to render aid (and beginning to create a nuisance).
The interesting ebb and flow of life is a subject of great interest to me lately. The many people killed in Mississippi and Louisiana, the remembrance of those killed on September 11th, 2001, or while I was in Iraq (among who were people I knew and had worked with), the many survivors of traumatic and terrible events who I have known (or know) personally, the keen, close-to-home understanding that my present life is a tremendous gift that can expire at any moment… these lives I treasure, and I feel grateful for every moment I can walk this Earth and share my life with others. I, too, have had many close calls, many brushes with death, but I am still here in good health.
I thought of the “new” life I have entered with my love and her daughter (who I frankly have begun to think of as my own daughter), and I thought about how blessed I am to have the opportunity to raise another child after having raised one to be a successful young man. It is as if I have been given another life to live within this one lifetime, and I know this is a rare and special thing. If I can use the time left to me to love and to teach love, I will have made a real contribution to this world. This might be why I have been presented this rare opportunity. It is my intention to make good use of it.
This time last year, I was still in Iraq at the request of my Uncle Sam, not knowing from one moment to the next whether I would be alive or dead. I wasn’t too concerned about it either way, as by that time, I had made my peace with God and was willing to follow His will.
This morning, after a wonderful weekend with my love and her daughter, I was driving to work. It is a long way from her farm in the country to my job in the city. About half way along the route, I came upon a deadly, multiple-vehicle collision. One car had been turned upside-down, and its roof had been partially collapsed. Several people were on the scene, but because the accident was fresh, there were no police or fire-rescue officials at the scene.
As I passed, I began to get a strange sensation, and somehow I knew, I felt it in my soul, that the spirit of a person in that overturned vehicle was beginning to move on, beginning to leave the body. A whole series of emotions began to move through me then. At first, I began to cry in mourning for the person who might be dying. Then, it occurred to me that even a life that has passed on is beautiful, as it perpetuates new life. The perception that life is finite or only in the here-and-now is an illusion: as one life moves on, it gives rise to new life and the circle is sustained. Then I made a blessing for those souls around me, including the one in the overturned car. All of this occurred in a very short span of time, and I did not stop at the accident scene because there were already too many people stopped to render aid (and beginning to create a nuisance).
The interesting ebb and flow of life is a subject of great interest to me lately. The many people killed in Mississippi and Louisiana, the remembrance of those killed on September 11th, 2001, or while I was in Iraq (among who were people I knew and had worked with), the many survivors of traumatic and terrible events who I have known (or know) personally, the keen, close-to-home understanding that my present life is a tremendous gift that can expire at any moment… these lives I treasure, and I feel grateful for every moment I can walk this Earth and share my life with others. I, too, have had many close calls, many brushes with death, but I am still here in good health.
I thought of the “new” life I have entered with my love and her daughter (who I frankly have begun to think of as my own daughter), and I thought about how blessed I am to have the opportunity to raise another child after having raised one to be a successful young man. It is as if I have been given another life to live within this one lifetime, and I know this is a rare and special thing. If I can use the time left to me to love and to teach love, I will have made a real contribution to this world. This might be why I have been presented this rare opportunity. It is my intention to make good use of it.
posted by Louis at 10:41 PM
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