Life and the Protagonist
Life tries its best to throw us curveballs. Its only problem is many people keep hitting it out of the park. No matter what comes at us humans, we do seem rather elastic. Think about it. When we’re born, we’re already a step ahead of the old ball game. Our brains continue to develop well into our twenties. After that we can peer into our hearts and minds and apply our knowledge and wisdom to helping others and/or in an endless array of circumstances. After that? The whole thing can become sort of predictable and fun. With such advantages we may even feel a little guilty and prankish.
So, life intervenes with yet another of its mood swings taking us on a go around in the old cycle of suffering and uncertainty. With that hard times can drag on for years, often decades. But how does the clever human respond? With brazen optimism. We have the audacity to believe something good can come from the worst time in our lives. And unfortunately for Life who has by now exhausted the handiest tricks of its trade, human beings prove themselves prescient. Something good often does come from hard luck and adversity.
I feel bad for Life. It’s running low on opportunities ot stymie us. It may even have to concede that we are impervious to its threats of death (oh no! Not that!) which it so loves to hang over our heads when it’s desperate. But check out how some of us have responded to the question of impending death:
One man, James Angstrom, was actually born without his heart beating. After more than an hour of no heartbeat and no oxygen to his brain, his heart somehow got its act together and he was revived. Furthermore, he suffered no adverse effects from that less than ideal start to his courtship with Life. How’s that for triumph? But try this one on for size: Lily, an 18-month-old baby survived fourteen hours in a car submerged in sub-zero degree water while her mother died in the vehicle. Rescuers were able to find Lily because she kept calling for help. Girls. They’re always up to something. And there are innumerable other examples of how people often beat the odds.
We’ve all heard of cases where men or women who have been paralyzed for years suddenly stood up and started a new life of walking around and even competing in long distance marathons. And there have been more than enough reports of people inexplicably cured of life threatening conditions living full and happy lives years after their terminal diagnoses. And what about blind people who suddenly, unexplainably acquire sight? Or people who have been deaf all their lives who suddenly begin to hear and become virtuosos?
You want more? What about one guy who was shot at during an attempted robbery? His life was saved because his wedding ring blocked the bullet. No more forgetting anniversaries for that guy, huh? What’s my point? Life loves irony. It’s a bully with a soft heart that doesn’t want to be found out. So, don’t be so quick to be down in the dumps over Life taking twists and turns when you least expected it because as you can see others have overcome greater odds. You will likely do the same. Physical disease, mental illness, homelessness, addiction, failed relationships, unemployment, it doesn’t matter where you get your ice cream from. All obstacles are transient. Like Life all these things can be transcended if and when we apply the best of our heart, wit, character and mind. No matter the problem it’s the perfect opportunity to prove that the soul that never says ‘die,’ never will. Poor old Life. When will it realize we are human?