The Challenge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
The UK, not unlike other parts of the world, is in crisis. Here in London, the mayor has declared a State of Emergency with coronavirus - to all intents and purposes – seemingly out of control and hospitals barely able to cope with rapidly rising cases. Sadly, the more cases, the more deaths, and the devastating effects of both on families and friends.
Once, at the height of despair on a very personal level, I confided in a complete stranger I got chatting to on a bus while we were stuck in a traffic jam. He could see I was upset and agitated and asked if I was okay. The question unleashed floodgates.
It transpired that my confidante was a member of the clergy, and I felt obliged to admit that I subscribe to no religion; not even pantheism in those days. I was half-expecting a kindly rebuke or at least a mini-sermon of sorts, but was pleasantly surprised. Instead, he squeezed my arm and told me to ally myself with Hope and – win or lose – I will have found the strength to deal with either. I was sceptical, to say the least. What can be more likely to send us into free fall than to have hope, only for it to come to nothing? “Nothing comes of nothing,” he assured me, “and never underestimate the empowering nature of hope.”
As is the case with so many of the challenges we face as we go through life, we win some and we lose some. The trick is not to see losing as missing out, rather drawing on that same inner strength that gave us hope in the first place as we move from challenge to challenge. The law of averages alone suggests that the chances are we’ll win more than we lose. Small comfort perhaps, as we face up to losing, but the very act of facing up to it calls on much the same inner strengths as we’ve had to find to be where we were.
“I take my strength from my Faith, “the stranger told me, “…but I’m only human and have to deal with life’s negatives as well as its positives. Never easy, but I choose go from positive to positive rather than dwell on the negatives.”
I am probably paraphrasing as it was years ago, but an old aboriginal man would tell me much the same thing as I faced another personal crisis some years later. On both (and other) occasions, they were proved to be right. So, here I am, 75 years old and having to deal with various health issues BUT… so far, so good as far as the coronavirus us concerned.
Take care, folks, keep well and be sure to nurture a positive mindset that will see us through our darkest hours, and keep the mind-body-spirit engaging with light, albeit dim at times...
Hugs,
Roger
THE CHALLENGE
Landscape,
bleak;
skyscape, as if colluding
with
a dual sense
of
doom and gloom spreading
with
the speed
and
purpose of such prophecies
as
instil as much denial
in
us as fear that there just might be
some
truth in it all
Outlook,
bleak;
inner
eye, defying reason
to
get to grips
with
a personal space posing
more
questions
than
suggesting solutions to a crisis
of
consciousness,
empathy
with fate or faith, whatever
brings
us here
Here,
where we are,
unable
to quite see for bleak
passages
of time
beckoning
first this way, then that:
nothing
for it,
but
to grasp much the same lifeline
as
has made history
for
centuries, though it be thrown down
as
a challenge
No finer challenge can humanity choose
than
to ally with hope, win or lose
Copyright
R.N. Taber, 2021
Labels: common humanity, coronavirus, Covid-19, global consciousness, history, hope, human nature, human spirit, life forces, love, personal space, poetry, positive thinking, society, variant
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