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