Trying Times

Thank Buddha It’s Friday….big time!

For those of us who live in the Northeast (of which I am one), it’s been a bit trying lately.  Between Hurricane Sandy and the recent Nor’easter, we are “saturated” (pun intended) with our share of hardship. 

It is heartbreaking to see those who have lost “everything” – ie: homes, material goods, mementos – and more importantly, those who have lost their lives.  It is a sobering reminder that life is fragile, that nature has her own agenda.

It will take a very long time to rebuild…and there will be a sea of tears shed along the way.  But, as many a victim and elected official has said, we will be ok, we will persevere.

Should we learn something from this horrible event?  Absolutely.  If we don’t, then we are blind and unwilling to grow.  We need to face the reality that in many ways, things are out of our control.  Yet on the flip side, we need to understand that what is in our control, is something we need to pay attention to and prepare for.

Years ago, and this is by no means a comparison, I lost a number of photo albums and family items in a basement flood.  It made me very sad.  I lost memories that could not be replaced.  I had no choice but to let it go.  To chalk it up to that element of life which is beyond my influence.

The loss of a home and our possessions is gut-wrenching….there is no escaping that.  We are only human – and part of that experience is to feel sorrow and pain.  Another piece of the puzzle is to also feel hope and faith and renewal…that we will pass through the darkness and back into the light.  It won’t be easy – but it WILL happen.

My lesson in this is a restoration of my faith in people…that we can truly help each other when we are down…in even the smallest of ways.  And that’s not some rhetorical mumbo jumbo (as we’ve heard too much of lately in our presidential race – don’t get me started), but a truth that lies deep within each of us as members of the human race.

We are in this together – this journey, this world, this life. – BB