Rising From the Ashes

This last month we have seen uprisings in Egypt, Bahrain and Libya. We have seen the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in Japan that caused massive destruction and loss of life. We lost yet another of our brightest stars, and Michael’s dearest friend, Dame Elizabeth Taylor, and we certainly can’t dismiss all the changes, good and bad that perhaps have occurred in our own lives.

In our ever changing world, nothing is guaranteed to last forever. Even this planet on which we live, remains at the mercy of the forces of nature, the Universe and to the destructiveness of mankind. We, as humans, often cloak ourselves within an air of indifference and insulate our private, everyday lives against the tragedies of others, believing we are exempt from the same misfortunes and bad luck. We read about it in the papers, we watch it on TV and the internet; our minds absorbing the information and our eyes barely comprehending what we see. Often, our defense mechanism is to block it out, turn a blind eye or simply say quietly to ourselves, ‘Thank God this is not happening to me.’ But by burying our heads in the sand this way, we are effectively negating the humanity of those who are experiencing unfortunate events and circumstances.

Lulled into a false sense of security by the constancy of our lives, we believe that nothing can touch us; nothing can alter the things we hold with value. We begin to take for granted the things we have been blessed with; our jobs, families, friends; the way of life we have come to know and expect, and the sensory pleasures we experience from sight, sound, smell, taste, and the spiritual connection with the Higher Power.

We take for granted the legs we walk on, the eyes we see with, the arms we embrace with, the tongues we speak with, the ears we hear with, the brains we think with, the lungs we breathe with, and the heart that beats 55 to 80 times per minute pumping the life force through us, and in which gives us the capacity to love. In a blink of an eye any one of these things could be taken from us, leaving us standing with open hands asking the one question that can never be answered….why?

Change is inevitable. It is the one thing that man cannot control. It is the one thing that is guaranteed to happen to everyone at some point in their lives. It may creep up on us unawares. It may be barely noticeable. It may force us to re-evaluate our lives, or it may slam into us with such force that it brings us to our knees, leaving us struggling for breath. How we deal with the tragedies and sadness; how we rise above the trials and tribulations and adversities we may experience, and how we rebuild our own lives and help to rebuild those of others, determines the way we will walk into our future. We will carry the scars and memories with us, but we will also carry the knowledge of how precious the gift of life is; how important it is to make every day count.

              

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPWo1vJ7hu0

© Valmai Owens, 2011. All Rights Reserved.
No reproduction without permission from author.

This article appears in the publication Dot to Dot: Keeping Michael’s Legacy Alive, and its content is the property of the authors and the Michael Jackson Tribute Portrait. Articles and exclusive interviews are copyrighted; therefore there should be no republication without permission. You may email edito@michaeljacksontributeportrait.com with any requests for republication. If permission is given, credit must be given to the author, Dot to Dot: Keeping Michael's Legacy Alive and the Michael Jackson Tribute Portrait.