“Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows.” Helen Keller. I love her stories. Can you imagine what life could be like for a young child suddenly losing their sight and hearing and yet going on in life to have a major impact on society in a variety of positive ways? I have known many people over the years who no matter how good life was for them always saw the darkness and I have been fortunate to know people who no matter how much darkness they had in their life always kept seeing the light. Life doesn’t always seem fair, equal, or deserving but in the end, it’s the life we were given and we have a choice. Make the best of what we have been given or stay stuck in the pain of what we have not been given. It’s a choice folks and, when you think about it, a simple one. I’m not implying that pain is good or bad just that we have a choice to decide what we will do with it.
“The only way to have a friend is to be one.” Emerson. I recently read a study that the average person today has fewer than five good friends. What exactly is a good friend? What is a friend? And I’m not talking about Facebook friends as I left there years ago and have no idea how they define friends – nor do I care. Real friends are more than friends. They are supporters, and critics in a nurturing way, and they are in your corner whenever and however you need them. “Friendship is a platonic relationship between two people who care about each other.” Is that it? As I look back over the years, I admit that I have had very few what I would refer to as really good friends. I have had connections, champions, supporters, associates, and even believers who supported me in different ways now and then . . . but real friends? Would a real friend take a bullet for you? Give you a Kidney? Bail you out of jail? Let you move into their basement? Or more? I don’t know but what I do know is that if I ever needed that kind of support I hope there would be someone I could count on. How about you? Got one, a couple, or many of these in your life?
“The flocks fear the wolf, the crops the storm, and the trees the wind.” Virgil. Not sure where he is going with this quote, but one thing that struck me is that the most common emotion in life is fear, and is he implying that not only humanity but the animal world and plants also experience fear as well? It reminded me of a study I read many years ago about when two people entered a nursery and started yelling and arguing with each other as an experiment. They tested the soil of all of the plants before they entered and then tested it after their argument minutes later and guess what? The soil in all of the plants in the nursery became more negative than before the conversation between them. “Tim, are you telling me plants experience emotions? I have seen fear in the eyes of pets, but plants?” I don’t know whether you think this is voodoo stuff or real but science over the years evidence has proven that nature reacts to its environment. And I’m not talking here about the “Green New Deal”. Look up the concept of the “Gaia Principle”. I read about it years ago in a book by Lovelock. It states and proves that the earth for millions of years has learned to adjust to the changing environment and maintained its health regardless of what was or is going on – in it.