The Better Way

Throughout my travels as a human being, backpacking through this country called life, I've learned a lot. I'm blessed to have had access to the richness of a post-secondary education, an amazing family, a network of friends that has become a second family, and work that has come my way that has been both challenging and enjoyable. And, of course, relative to so many people, I've had it great. I've had it beautiful.

I enjoy the luxury of complaining and of making mistakes that won't cost me my livelihood, my dignity or my freedom, as so many little things could do for women beyond my cushy existence. I'm typing right now, which means I have a computer, internet access, a free voice in my country, and that I am literate.

There is nothing more life-affirming than love. And the most lasting, and the most halting of all loves I have been blessed with is a love for life. I am fascinated by desires, by survival ... the fact that we are alive and that so much of the time, we forget to ask why we are here, and just get lost in the rapture that is what we are living. And that the most beautiful and terrible thing about life is that you can't be sure we get any more of it than what we got now.

I don't know if I believe in an afterlife. I certainly believe in heaven and hell, but they tend to turn up on earth. Looking at the shattered world of a war, or the broken skeleton of a city after a disaster, you can't help but think that the devil's taken up residence there. If you've ever been laughing hysterically or felt the rushing undertow of life as you step on a stage ... there are so many morsels of heaven that we are allowed to taste every day. We, as humans, are allowed to feel happy without any reason.

The funny thing I've noticed is that we never sensationalize the millions of moments of beauty. And I think we could stand to spend more time thinking about it.

It isn't New Year's, but I'm re-affirming a resolution made by so many of us, on a conscious level, but kept by so many who take no pains in forgetting to complain: I'm going to celebrate beauty, life, and the world I'm lucky enough to be a part of.

This is all I have.