Duty

A friend told me the other day that they wished they could live their life surrounded by happiness. I offered some mild encouragement. However, my soul was yelling at the top of its lungs. Here's what it had to say...

The greatest gift that we can give those around us is love. While we think that they want money, jewels and fancy cars. All they truly need is to know is that they are loved. When we are able to love someone with a pure heart, they will be our friend for life. Not because of the material gifts we bring, rather because being with us makes them feel whole. So many broken people wandering the streets.

Many serve their loved ones with a sullen heart. Beaten and bowed by the fact that they are in a job, a relationship, or a life situation that makes them unhappy.

I asked my friend... Why can't you follow your dreams? Apparently they had a duty to their family. It made me wonder what it must be like in that family. As much as we try, when we'd rather be someplace else everyone around us suffers. I learned that lesson first-hand on numerous occasions. When I don't want to be somewhere, you don't want to be around me.

Do you believe in God? Do you believe in joy? Why do you think that everyone else deserves it rather than you?

So my pal has been seriously unhappy for a while and ignoring the signs that keep popping up. It's almost like God is hitting them on the head with a sledgehammer - time to move, time to change, time to do anything! I had my own sledgehammer experience - it was the "Wile E. Coyote" of messages. Do you know the kind? You wander off the cliff and have just enough time to say... "oh shit" before your world falls apart.

In a sense, the Coyote Wake-Up Call is the best kind because it is near impossible to miss. Most people would prefer to avoid the Coyote Call, and perhaps God looks kindly on them. First he taps them on the shoulder. Then he taps a little harder. Soon, he's hitting us over the head with a baseball bat! Wake up! Save yourself! You are going nowhere!

Oh, but it is far safer to remain unhappy but loyal. Still, I wonder to whom you are showing that loyalty. Should loyalty be earned? If yes, then what have they done to earn that loyalty? Sometimes we are really just being loyal to our fears. Do you think that happy people have no fears? What about brave people? I think everybody is scared and the only difference is that some people decide to take action.

Here's an excerpt from a book by Richard Bach. The book is called, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah.

"Once there lived a village of creatures along the bottom of a great crystal river. The current of the river swept silently over them all -- young and old, rich and poor, good and evil -- the current going its own way, knowing only its own crystal self.

"Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to the twigs and rocks of the river bottom, for clinging was their way of life, and resisting the current what each had learned from birth.

"But one creature said at last, "I am tired of clinging. Though I cannot see it with my eyes, I trust that the current knows where it is going. I shall let go, and let it take me where it will. Clinging, I shall die of boredom."

"The other creatures laughed and said, "Fool! Let go, and that current you worship will throw you tumbled and smashed across the rocks, and you will die quicker than boredom!"

"But the one heeded them not, and taking a breath did let go, and at once was tumbled and smashed by the current across the rocks. Yet in time, as the creature refused to cling again, the current lifted him free from the bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more. And the creatures downstream, to whom he was a stranger, cried, "See a miracle! A creature like ourselves, yet he flies! See the Messiah, come to save us all!"

"And the one carried in the current said, "I am no more Messiah than you. The river delights to lift us free, if only we dare let go. Our true work is this voyage, this adventure."

"But they cried all the more, "Savior!" all the while clinging to the rocks, and when they looked again he was gone, and they were left alone making legends of a Savior."

The book is a great read and I highly recommend it.

The signs are everywhere - all you have to do is look. Look at your eyes and your skin. Remember when they used to glow? What was that like? Remember when you used to wake up happy in the morning? And what of your health? Do you think it will improve as the light seeps out of your soul?

It's not very polite of me, I know. But something has to be done. I don't know the answer for you, I merely see the results and suspect that anything would be better than your self-imposed prison. You've served many years and perhaps it is time to plan a jailbreak!

gordo - 13 november 2001