Tuesday, May 24, 2016
I have been conversing with a friend I still have never met. I suppose you could call him my electronic pen pal. We first met online seven years ago...in 2009. It seems a little surreal that it's been seven years. It also seems surreal that I appreciate him as much as I do considering I still have not met him in person. He disappeared from my life instead of coming to visit me one June weekend. I later discovered he had apparently been in a horrific car accident on the very trip he was making to come meet me. I didn't learn about this until the next year.
It's a sad reality that all too many people lose those they love. We all will eventually. And I don't just mean people lose their loved ones to illness, to drug addiction, to suicide and to war. Those endings are horrible enough in and of themselves. Some people lose people because they simply...vanish. Some people lose their beloved children, spouses, siblings and even parents when those individuals...disappear.
For those whose hearts are shattered by such traumatic loss trusting the world to be a safe place where people will consistently show up and be there for you over the long haul can be a rather Herculean proposition. Imagine, for a moment, if you lived just one day of your life with the overriding conviction that every single person you encounter during that day might very well never appear in your life again. How would you live that day if you truly held that possibility in your conscious awareness throughout the day? Would you treat both those you know as well as complete strangers any differently.
It's a sad reality that all too many people lose those they love. We all will eventually. And I don't just mean people lose their loved ones to illness, to drug addiction, to suicide and to war. Those endings are horrible enough in and of themselves. Some people lose people because they simply...vanish. Some people lose their beloved children, spouses, siblings and even parents when those individuals...disappear.
For those whose hearts are shattered by such traumatic loss trusting the world to be a safe place where people will consistently show up and be there for you over the long haul can be a rather Herculean proposition. Imagine, for a moment, if you lived just one day of your life with the overriding conviction that every single person you encounter during that day might very well never appear in your life again. How would you live that day if you truly held that possibility in your conscious awareness throughout the day? Would you treat both those you know as well as complete strangers any differently.
Life is precious. And life can be very short. I think people who lost entire social circles in the AIDS epidemic may resonate with what I share above. Parents who have lost children and children whose parents have disappeared may also appreciate the harsh brevity of life that sometimes impacts us in blunt and subtle ways.
When you walk out the door tomorrow morning consider pondering the very real possibility that you might never again encounter some people...both the familiar and the unknown.
Everything changes.
Tell the people whom you love how you feel about them.
I never use the statement 'life is too short" as a cliche anymore, as it rings too close, too often. Sieze life always! Coral
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