EDITED WITH UPDATE:Since I have come to doing Hump Day Hmms every other week, and the deadline often seems burdensome to most, I have a suggestion: I put up the Hump Day Hmm "assignment" one week, and do the Host Post the following week. So assignment and post alternate weeks. This gives everyone a full 7 days (or so) to get around to it. How's that?
Sometimes it is not a person we need to forgive, or have forgive us. Sometimes it is happenstance.
If I sat and listed the times happenstance has brought challenge, difficulty or harm to me, it would be a long and depressing list. For example, the time practically everything we owned was lost or ruined during a move. For example, my cousin dying so young and tragically. That's quite enough. Actually, today, when I sat and thought, most of the things felt like beaten rugs; they felt largely done. I've been doing a lot of letting go lately.
The bottom line is that we can't control everything and sometimes this can make us feel powerless, and angry. Eventually, though, we need to move forward, and if theory holds, that means forgiving, letting it go.
Try a different story: Jan Grzebski wakes after a 19 year coma.
In 1988 Mr. Grzebski of Poland was in an accident that put him into a coma.
The world has changed a lot in almost 20 years. Poland especially. Mr. Grzebski says he is amazed at the plethora of goods available in the store, the new technology, and by life in the 21st century in general. When he went to sleep, Poland was a communist country and now it's a democracy. He missed his four children growing up and getting married, and the birth of his 11 grandchildren. I'm sure he is glad for the time he gets now, but he lost almost 20 years of his life. That must take some heady reconciling to get through and adjust to life as it now, a life that kept moving even while he did not.
After I read that story I was struck: wow, what if I fell into a coma...what would I miss, how would I deal if I woke twenty years later?
I thought about several aspects:
1. What if I had fallen into a coma in 1988...what would I have lost?
2. What if I fell into a coma today...what do I have to lose?
3. What if I awoke after almost 20 years...how would I deal with all I missed, life as it is after my absence, and reintegrating myself into life? How would I do it? How would I deal with it? How would I forgive fate for all I had missed and lost? Would it be easy r hard? Would my gratitude of a second chance overwhelm me?
Thus the idea for the Hump Day Hmms of ths week was born.
If you choose to participate (and I sincerely hope that you do!!):
Imagine falling into a coma and awaking after twenty years. Choose either waking now after 20 years (question 1) or falling into a coma now and waking twenty years from now (question 2) or feel free to do both. Either way...tackle question 3.
Send me your links and I'll post them in the Host Post. I really hope to see a lot of you take this on. I admit I am so curious about all the various perspectives on this.
copyright 2007 Julie Pippert
Sometimes it is not a person we need to forgive, or have forgive us. Sometimes it is happenstance.
If I sat and listed the times happenstance has brought challenge, difficulty or harm to me, it would be a long and depressing list. For example, the time practically everything we owned was lost or ruined during a move. For example, my cousin dying so young and tragically. That's quite enough. Actually, today, when I sat and thought, most of the things felt like beaten rugs; they felt largely done. I've been doing a lot of letting go lately.
The bottom line is that we can't control everything and sometimes this can make us feel powerless, and angry. Eventually, though, we need to move forward, and if theory holds, that means forgiving, letting it go.
Try a different story: Jan Grzebski wakes after a 19 year coma.
In 1988 Mr. Grzebski of Poland was in an accident that put him into a coma. The world has changed a lot in almost 20 years. Poland especially. Mr. Grzebski says he is amazed at the plethora of goods available in the store, the new technology, and by life in the 21st century in general. When he went to sleep, Poland was a communist country and now it's a democracy. He missed his four children growing up and getting married, and the birth of his 11 grandchildren. I'm sure he is glad for the time he gets now, but he lost almost 20 years of his life. That must take some heady reconciling to get through and adjust to life as it now, a life that kept moving even while he did not.
After I read that story I was struck: wow, what if I fell into a coma...what would I miss, how would I deal if I woke twenty years later?
I thought about several aspects:
1. What if I had fallen into a coma in 1988...what would I have lost?
2. What if I fell into a coma today...what do I have to lose?
3. What if I awoke after almost 20 years...how would I deal with all I missed, life as it is after my absence, and reintegrating myself into life? How would I do it? How would I deal with it? How would I forgive fate for all I had missed and lost? Would it be easy r hard? Would my gratitude of a second chance overwhelm me?
Thus the idea for the Hump Day Hmms of ths week was born.
If you choose to participate (and I sincerely hope that you do!!):
Imagine falling into a coma and awaking after twenty years. Choose either waking now after 20 years (question 1) or falling into a coma now and waking twenty years from now (question 2) or feel free to do both. Either way...tackle question 3.
Send me your links and I'll post them in the Host Post. I really hope to see a lot of you take this on. I admit I am so curious about all the various perspectives on this.
copyright 2007 Julie Pippert
Comments
That is so sad about your cousin. Were you young too?
If we sit and think to hard about all that happenstance brings to our lives we'll go absolutely batty, I think. Though I think it actually takes some time to come to the point where we understand it is happenstance. Know what i mean? I think we so often look for answers to the whys of it all and the what could we have done differently questions. It can take a while, like you noted, to be done with it.
Have you ever read the book by Stephen King, quite old, called "The Dead Zone"? Similar premise.
Peace,
~Chani
Too bad, because it's a fascinating question.
-t
Sorry Gwen!!!
I will uhhh...think of something!!!
Promise...and open to great ideas.
~ch
Sound good?
I think I will participate with this one! My comment was getting kind of long.