The Field Trip

Imagine going on a field trip. You get to see new things, some of which you will absolutely love, and others you won’t like or find boring.
I remember some of the field trips I took during school years. No matter what the destination was, I was always excited.
The main goal of the trip was to expose students to an educational topic, but in the minds of the kids field trips were strictly a chance to have fun. At that age, we found the bright side of everything, even in a boring exhibit at the museum of history.
I see life as a paramount field trip.
Alike kids departing on a bus, ready to go explore something new, we came to earth to learn something, and arrived armed with the verve of youth, prepared to enjoy the trip regardless of what we would see.
The point of going on the trip was to learn something while having fun. But are we having fun? Do we still enjoy the camaraderie which united us when we embarked on the trip? Since reaching our destination, many of us have become too absorbed in the exhibits and have forgotten that we were also supposed to enjoy each other’s company.
We seem to draw close only when something catastrophic happens, and miss the chance we have, every given day, to make the most of our trip.
It’s good to remember we all came on the same bus and we are all friends. Let’s make our brief stay one to be remembered.
It’s not too hard to accomplish that; sometimes, all it takes is for us to smile at the friend who’s standing near.

Are We Really Pro-Life?

With the presidential elections at the door, one of the tickets each party has been leaning on to attract voters is the right to choose life. What does being pro-life actually mean? What criteria should be used when determining who’s right and who’s wrong?
There are many who denounce abortion, but condone those who kill in the name of life, or are open supporters of the death penalty. Killing is killing, whether the victim is a fetus, a child, a father, a doctor or a criminal.
Everybody has a right to live, but many appear to be bias in regard to choosing which type of life has more or less right to thrive.
Being pro-life does not mean that abortion should be illegal. It means that the individual believes in the value of life and chooses not to have an abortion because she has the right to bring life forth.
Criminalization of abortion did not reduce the number of women who sought abortions. It is estimated that in the years before Roe vs. Wade the number of illegal abortions ranged as high as 1.2 million per year.
Many women died or suffered serious medical problems after attempting to self-induce their abortions or going to untrained practitioners who performed abortions with primitive methods or in unsanitary conditions.
Putting the federal government in charge of a choice which should be strictly personal, and considered on individual basis rather than a whole, would make us no different than the Asian countries obligating their women not to have children.
Life needs to be respected for the value it has, all across the board.
Abortion should not be taken lightly or be a substitute for contraception. Yet, women should have the right to decide what is appropriate for them, one way or the other. If I was raped and became pregnant, I feel that it should be up to me to decide whether I want to bring forth the product of a vicious attack; others should not decide for me regarding something that affects me so closely.
I personally believe in life, and would not choose otherwise, but I still think that the freedom of choice needs to remain protected as one of our constitutional rights.
To me, being pro-life means that we should support increased education, and prevent loss of life rather than forbidding personal choices. Regardless of personal views, life is our greatest gift and one we should not take lightly. Individuals are the ones who should choose life; the government shouldn’t do it for them.
And that is true freedom.

Double Vision

Many cultures believe the perspective-perception concept is one of the most important life lessons. In African lore, for example, one of the most well-known entities is Eshu.
Eshu is a trickster god, a benevolent-yet-prankster spirit, who confuses people in order to impart knowledge and teach fundamental life lessons.

In one of the folk stories, Eshu walks down a dirt road between two rivaling farms. He wears a red and black hat; the hat is black on one side, red on the other. After he has passed the farms and can no longer be seen, the two farmers come together, asking questions about the stranger with the hat. The first farmer insists that he saw a stranger wearing a black hat, while the second farmer insists he saw the same stranger, with the same clothes, but he swears up and down that the hat was red. As the two farmers continue arguing about the color of the hat, the stranger comes walking back up the road, this time in the opposite direction.

The farmers then realize they were both right; they saw what was in front of them and assumed the other person saw the exact same thing. They never considered the perspective from the other side.

It is hard to understand or believe the other side if we don’t make an effort to see things from their point of observation. We waste energy trying to convince others of the validity of our opinion, but don’t realize that their own standing is simply supported by a different foundation. If we keep one eye closed we can only see one half of the world surrounding us, and we miss out on many opportunities to widen our vision.

By changing our perspective we can change our perception of reality.

The Gift of Now

In “Journey to Ixtlan", Carlos Castaneda writes about the Angel of Death as being always present near one’s left shoulder. If one turns fast enough, Castaneda writes, it is possible to catch a glimpse of the Angel, and remember to live every moment fully because it could be our last.
This past week, my friend Connie had a chance to come face to face with her own mortality. After becoming very ill because of an untreated kidney infection, she was taken to the hospital, and immediately admitted. For a few days, her doctors struggled to keep the infection under control, and her condition seemed to deteriorate by the minute.
Saying that Connie was terrified is a serious understatement. She knew her body was shutting down, and everything she had taken for granted was quickly spiraling out of control. Connie thought she was going to die.
When I spoke with her, the first words out of her mouth were about her children. She was afraid of how they would cope if something happened to her, and also realized how much she missed simply having them around. She talked of the times she got angry with them over trivial things, when she could have instead told them how much she loved them.
Having three children myself, I totally understand the frustrations of parenting. Yet, Connie’s ordeal seriously made me think.
What if something was to happen to me, and I wasn’t able to connect to all the people I love or respect before leaving this earthly plane? Would they know how much I care about them? If I was to die tomorrow, would it really matter that my three-year-old daughter flooded the bathroom today, or that my husband didn’t throw his dirty socks in the hamper this morning?
We spend such a large portion of our lives worrying about things that don’t matter, that we lose focus of what is truly important. We hold grudges against people we love over unimportant matters, and never think that we may not have another chance to make amends.
After talking to Connie, I thought about my own family, my children, my parents who live far away. I realized that many times I hang up the phone without telling my husband that I love him, I choose housework over going to the park with my children, I forget to call my parents and friends because I am too busy. I never think that those simple actions could be the last chance I have to let them know how I feel. If something suddenly happened to me – or them – those perfect opportunities would be lost forever.
We are programmed to allow life's circumstances to take over, to focus on making the next dollar as if it is the last chance we have to become rich, and we forget that it is up to us to appreciate each moment and the subtle blessings that surround us at all times. The dishes will still be there the next day, and the paperwork will be waiting for us when we get back, but will our loved ones be there tomorrow? Or even later today?
Each moment of our lives that is not fully appreciated is a moment we have wasted; it's a gift we have not accepted; it's an opportunity that may be lost forever.