When there is good news we always ask if it is true, because it is so difficult to believe. But when there is bad news we rarely inquire as to its validity, because it is so easy to believe. I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. But, then I thought, wouldn’t it be much worse if life were fair, and all the good and the terrible things that happen to us came only because we really deserve them? Now, I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the world.
Similarly, I had always defined myself in terms of what I was not, in terms of where I was going. When you do that, you not only fail to appreciate what you are and what you have, you miss the moments, and the moments are all that we truly have. All of life can be broken down into moments, moments of transformation and moments of revelation – this present situation has the feeling of both. The future is all around us, waiting in moments of transformation to be born in moments of revelation. I don’t know the shape of this future or where it will lead me, and I can’t go back, but I can appreciate what I’ve got and define myself in terms of what I am: alive and well. Everything else is negotiable.
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