THE LIFE WE DESERVE
Sunday Oct. 6, 2019
As babies, continually cuddled, outfitted, fed, washed, held, burped, pacified, and changed. Growing fast, learning speech and running fast, racing toward who we are begetting. Led, taught, advised, and mentored, but resisting, racing headlong toward being ‘our own self.’
If we feel unique, then we are.
If we feel free and independent, then we are.
If we feel restrained and exploited, then we are.
If we feel we are scapegoats or sacrificed, then we are.
If we feel free, independent thinkers controlling our lives, then we are. Sometimes, we say we are when we aren’t. Temporary lapse or weak moment headed down some rabbit hole or wildly careening out of control.
I re-read a quote recently, not sure its source, about reaching 50 with the face we deserve. In my mirror, I see my dad. We deserve to look like parents.
But those poignant words mean much more; ease, or strain, peace or pain, happy or sad – we see written upon faces.
Many people, I expect, feel they deserve a different face derived from a different life, better, perhaps manifesting someplace else – because of boredom, or pain, or ambition, or feelings of helplessness. It isn’t about deserving vis-à-vis non-deserving, as much as choosing or non-choosing.
If you like your life, your face, your circumstances – just stay where you are. Keep smiling.
If you don’t like your life, your face, or circumstances – don’t wait for someone to change it for you, don’t wait for the weather to change, circumstances to be right, or because of which way some wind is blowing.
We know who we are – we are the only ones who do.
