The Gravity of Life
If only it were possible for us to see
Farther than our knowledge reaches,
And even a little past
Then the far reaches of our foresight,
Perhaps we would endure our sorrows
With greater trust than our joys.
Rainer Marie Rilke
Letters To A Young Poet
Life can be so cruel.
We watched the rocket go up.
Then we watched it blow up.
Live on national TV.
Onboard were 6 astronauts and a schoolteacher named Christie McAuliffe.
You work all of your life trying to acquire something and it turns out that this something is the one thing that winds up killing you.
I remember my boss Bill asking, “I wonder what’s going through the minds of the people who weren’t chosen for the mission?”
We all felt very bad for a long while.
Our lives even stood still – momentarily.
And then – life went on.
We weren’t bad people.
That’s just how life is.
A person who has just experienced a horrible event in their lives initially feels the world should stop spinning for them.
Rightfully so.
They feel people should call and visit more often.
People probably should.
But the world doesn’t stop spinning, and people’s own lives need their attention.
So life goes on.
I only wished there was a way people who have had a tragic thing happen to them could tell that other people were thinking of them.
Because they are.
All the time.
It is just not communicated.
That is the real shame.
Life is beyond comprehension.
Sometimes when we feel we are catching our biggest break, it may actually be a path to our demise.
Other times when we feel we are on our way to our demise, we catch our biggest break.
Life ebbs as we flow, and flows as we ebb.
One can never quite figure out why something happens.
One just has to trust that they are exactly where they are supposed to be at this exact moment in time.
To realize as long as you have a heart, you have a chance.
I don’t mean a heart that is physically working, I mean one that is emotionally working.
A heart that is filled with love, desire, and belief.
That heart.
Life, no matter how unexpected it may have turned out, no matter where you may be, no matter how much work is ahead to get to where you want to go, exists in your heart.
Don’t just exist, live.
Today.
Be present today.
Right here.
And you will get there.
There.
Sometimes you get “there” by your own vision, but this is rare.
Often you get “there” by correcting a series of mistakes, each of which, if taken by themselves, would have taken you further off course. But somehow taken in their entirety directed you toward your intended destination.
Getting “there” this way is common, but not easy.
Sometimes you get “there” by the relentless pursuit of a loved one.
This is special.
However, you get “there” is not the question.
Just get “there”.
“There” – is exactly where you are meant to be.
On the way to “there” – is who you will become.
Why you are.
At every moment in your life, you are exactly where you are meant to be so you can become the person who you were meant to be.
So there – is here.
Right here, right now, is there.
By being present for all of the “here’s” will surely get you “there”.
The journey to get “there” is to be here.
No matter where “here” is.
The Gravity of Life
Is an excerpt from
A Good Man
Which can be purchased
Here
