A Question for the Ages...

Facebook... it is a great place to meet people and get to know them, however sometimes it can catch you off-guard. Recently a new found friend posted this:

“Dear You (You know who you are),
I'm not a bad person and I have a lot to offer people. I am also human which means i'm not perfect. I make mistakes and suffer the consequences just like everyone else. I ask forgivness and I give forgivness equally. Please forgive me as I have forgiven you. I know I don't need your forgiveness to move on, but I would feel a lot more closer if I knew you were ok. ~ I don't want to start a new year with reqrets of so I lay it at your feet and hope for the best. ~(name)”

I “liked” the post and then my friend wanted to know what it meant to me. Hum... I liked it because it touched my soul and in a nutshell offered an anthem of love and forgiveness from an anguished individual to a friend. Yet there is so much more to the human story...

There are multiple themes that weave through the seemingly short paragraph, which gives way to the beginnings of a short doctoral thesis; however here are a few of the more prevalent themes I found and my beliefs:

Worth of the human soul: society tends to place value on everything, especially human life. I happen to believe that the significance of life cannot be measured by any yardstick that the world has or will try to determine merit. One of my favorite quotations, “if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing it is stupid.” ~Albert Einstein, demonstrates that every living creature has importance, it is finding that value and magnifying that value that adds incalculable joy to human existence. A simple example in m y life is a friend of mine that lives with Down’s syndrome. She enjoys a simple life, yet she possesses the uncanny ability to remember names and dates. Undoubtedly she remembers my family’s birthdays and anniversaries with better accuracy than I. Yet dropped in Times Square she would be immobilized by the traffic and twinkling lights. We all possess different strengths and weaknesses. It is through our interactions in this mortal life that we build our strengths and strengthen our weaknesses and hopefully help others do likewise.

Perfection: This does not and will never exist in mortal life. It is the “Great Lie” of human existence. Yet, we all strive to get there and alas, fall drastically short. Human nature “encourages” us to put those down that do not reach this unattainable measure of the human experience and to ignore our own short comings... I choose to follow the Biblical interpretation of this cultural phenomenon. “Judge not least ye be judged,” and of course, “why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” In short, we should all look into bettering ourselves instead of focusing on others… easy to say, tough to do. I know I struggle with this particular facet of mortal life and hope that others may find it in their hearts to forgive me of my frailties, which brings me to the next topic.

Forgiveness: The pinnacle of all virtues. I believe the simple act of forgiveness is the ultimate form of love and charity. It requires handing over the pain and anguish of injustice and replacing it with the feelings of kindness and compassion. Again easier said than done, but it is easier when we either know the person and understand their situation, or we personally have been down that same road and know full well the emotions and trauma faced by the unfortunate soul begging forgiveness. It is even more difficult when one forgives without the benefit of the other party’s willingness or knowledge... that is the beginning of knowing and understanding one’s own soul. That is true love and the highest form of charity one can bestow on another.

Regrets and new beginnings: Since we are all imperfect beings (as stated above), our existence will be rife with situations and circumstances where we feel remorse or lament our actions toward another individual or creature. It is part of the human experience. We also have no control over others (as much as we may try), each soul is given the agency to feel and do according to their conscience. As much as we may want to start fresh or have a new beginning, this does not always happen according to our time frame, hence the necessity for the previously mentioned forgiveness factor.

Wow... this turned into much more that I imagined and has also given me many topics to “process” as I run... I believe future updates to this blog will happen from time to time. Thanks for the opportunity to stretch my grey matter!!!