"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle..."
There is so much wisdom in that simple quote by Plato.
I don't know if it is just my age or what, but it seems lately as if there is so much suffering going on all around me to people that I love.
As I am writing this Jenny and Adam have flown to St. Louis to spend some time with her aunt (Jenny's father's sister) who is dealing with her metastasized lung cancer. She was diagnosed less than a year ago and today this insidious disease has taken over her whole sixty-eight year old body. They are keeping her as comfortable as they can as she lies in her hospital bed...but the prognosis is grim.
It feels, unfortunately, exactly like what Dave just experienced with his sister....seemingly good health, the horrifying diagnosis, the chemo that sadly does not shrink the tumors, the intense pain as the cancer spreads, the jaundice as the liver is shutting down...
I am so sad for Jenny's entire family and all of the people who love this woman so dearly. She has wonderful children and grandchildren....and, I know that it is such a difficult and surreal time for them.
While it is so difficult to deal with all of this, I have to keep reminding myself that this is the reality of Life. There can be so much sadness all around you...but there is also so much to be grateful for. One has to try and keep their focus on the joys when they come our way...and appreciate them...embrace them....and feel them fully.
Keeping one's faith becomes so tested in times like this...and so many questions come to mind...the biggest one just being: "Why?"...
The inconsistencies as to why good people can end up suffering, while those who have done bad things go on to live continue to plague me. I want to understand, but I am not sure that I ever will.
I guess that each should never take anything for granted--especially, our health. We must make every effort to take care of ourselves as best as we can.
We are so fortunate to be living in a time when great medical strides are being made every day. Take advantage of those tests that are available before something occurs. Don't continue to "put it off" until another day! Be an advocate for your own well-being.
..And, most of all be compassionate with others knowing that many of them are carrying around their own battles inside...
"Smile at strangers--you never know where angels may be..."
1 comment:
Such a thoughtful post, Grammie. It is so hard to see people suffer, along with those around them. One of the blogs in my sidebar, A Mountain Too High, is a lady's chronicle of living with and caring for her husband who has Alzheimer's. She writes so poignantly.
As you said, we never know what kind of a load people are bearing.
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