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
1 Comments:
so many people go through life without even once having the opportunity to have someone to whom they can pass down love. you are so blessed to be able to do so for a second time.
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