Over the last 72 hours, I hugged a friend who is having surgery today for kidney cancer. I knelt beside a nine-year-old as she adjusted her wig and focused on the video game on her iPad, trying to feel normal while the unknown lies before her. And I wept reading a post from a dear friend, a warrior fighting yet another cancer battle where the win is uncertain. While these three are fighting for their lives, we lash out at our neighbors because of how they vote, worship, or love. I watched “Don’t Say Good Luck” and let the tears cleanse the heartbreak. I don’t get it. I never will.
Friends hold us up, and family holds us together. I can’t count the times I have watched my grandchildren play together and say, “How lucky are they to have each other?” As everyone who has been on this planet for a decade knows, a relationship can end in a second. Emotions powered by words can slice it to pieces and leave it shattered forever. Actions fueled by greed, betrayal, and deceit are ammunition that human decency can’t match. They can tumble even the most sacred relationships.
But we have a choice. We learned it in Sunday school: do unto others as you would have them do unto you, the Golden Rule. I have long been a believer in the saying, “Anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” It is a tremendous waste of energy, a commodity most of us lack. We make a life by what we give.
As I sit here tonight thinking about the events of the last week, the avoidable consequences, and the uncertain road back to family gatherings, I feel sad. Because the three people I mentioned earlier would do anything to have that choice, it may not be an option for them.
foursetsofeyes 