Posted by
Sue on Saturday, August 23, 2008 11:03:52 AM
It is 11:47 pm PST on Friday, August 22, 2008 and I have tears drying on my face. I just watched the end portion of the "Lord of the Rings...Part I" and am reminded yet again about the difference between good and evil. I read Tolkein when I was young and it made a huge impression on me. I know now, over four decades later, that everything of importance that was written in the past was written for a reason. Whether the author knew the real reason or not is immaterial. What is important is that as human beings we have a need to know why our lives run as they do. If we are somewhat wise, we find that much of the material handed down to us is so very meaningful. The entire life experience of a person can be explained with what has gone before. It is no coincidence that the Bible has endured over two thousand years. For in the Bible the lessons of life for people are stark indeed. We need to read the Bible not as a religious tract, although millions do and have throughout two millenniums, but as a book of stories that carry lessons for people to learn by. You can, as many do, live your life and experience the pain of it or you can read and prepare yourself for what may come to you in the days of your life.
I do not believe that there is anything that is happening that has not happened thousands, millions of times before. Each person is born without the benefit of memory or experience so it must be gained over and over and over again, billions of times throughout mankind's existence. That, in my opinion is what college is all about. College should be a place for young people to learn that the questions they have have been asked untold number of times throughout the world by almost every human that has lived, lives and will live. The fact that we have to relearn each and every lesson is hard, but to not understand this early is to inflict on ourselves pain that is unnecessary. There is always pain, so that living our lives and learning to avoid as much as possible seem to me to be very important for a person.
But, having said that, my experience has been that with the can come great and deep joy and love. The birth of a child is such an event. Finding our other half on the planet is another if you are very, very lucky. But I may just be full of it because quite recently they have come across a gene that may, perhaps, be the "love" gene. You can't truly love and maybe not even understand love without it. That may explain so much that is unexplainable about people and the things they do to themselves and each other.