To You Who Suffer
I won’t give you a list of all of the people in my life who are desperately ill right now. Some friends, some spouses of friends, some family members – it’s a long list. This morning I have been inundated with stories that I wish I wasn’t hearing, because I wish they weren’t happening. My favorite college professor told us in class once that life is pain. It is right now for a lot of people I love; a brutal, grey, sucking sea of pain that is trying to draw them all down.
That said, I am marveling at these people’s responses. The bad news keeps coming, they keep getting socked with nightmare after nightmare, any one of which would knock me off my game and make me think seriously hard about jumping back in. But these people are going to work. They’re making dinner. They’re breathing in and out. The human will to live and love is just astonishing.
Hey you, the weary, sick and sad, you who despair, you who wish you were anybody else but yourself right now – I have nothing to say to make you better.
Except this:
A pirate walks into a bar and asks for rum. Protruding from his pants is a steering wheel. The bartender asks: “What is up with that steering wheel?”
The pirate answers: “I don’t know, but it’s driving me nuts.”
(abridged version, courtesy of piratejokes.net)
Hm. I think this may be a situation that even a pirate joke can’t fix.
One Comment
super jane
thanks for the laugh! let me just say that you are a lot stronger than you let on. you never know how much courage you\’ll be able to muster until the time arrives to dig it out from deep inside of your heart, soul, and mind. yes, the human will is strong, but for me personally, i\’m not doing it on my own. i know that someone bigger and more powerful than i will ever be is gently carrying me in his arms and i firmly believe that there is a reason for it all. thanks for the smiles. a little pirate joke goes a looong way! and thanks for the generous offer. lylas! (boy, do i ever sound like a gal from the 80s!) you are very, very sweet.