This week has been cathartic in a number of ways. This week I found out that a good friend of mine has breast cancer. I spent the evening with her. We talked, we cried, we laughed and we commiserated on how life can spin out of control at any moment. For as solid as our persistence of vision is, in the end it's an illusion...like a lot of things we count on. Tomorrow she goes into surgery, and after that radiation therapy, and after that... We hope, we pray we try to see a straight line in the chaos of possible outcomes. In the end we hold on to each other for dear life. That is the one truth in this story - life is dear. It is the only medium we have to be impactful, or not. My friend is one of those people that you love, often times with intense frustration. That you admire, often times with total disbelief, and that you are absolutely sure is your hero except for her faults. That, too, is the human condition. It isn't always clean, or clear, or consistent. It doesn't always make sense, or endear itself to you, and, in the end, like my friend, humanity is my hero if it weren't for it's faults.
They have come to me today...those that she has helped...those that she has listened to...those that she has encouraged...asking how they can help...how they can be of service. These are the human qualities that I celebrate. This is what makes impermanence bearable. It is the small things that we do to improve the human condition, day in and day out, that tie us to the infinite good that lies at the heart of humanity.
"The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions -- the little soon forgotten charities of a kiss or smile, a kind look, a heartfelt compliment, and the countless infinitesimal of pleasurable and genial feeling."
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