Holding On

I am a fairly cheerful person, as a rule. I like to look on the bright side of things and have been blessed with the ability to look beyond the mundane to see the wonder of life all around me. This has brought me a good deal of happiness today as well as a constant hope for the future. This does not, however, cause me to ignore those things that are difficult or dangerous in life. I simply do not allow them to overwhelm me or become the driving force behind my personality.

The other day when the sun was shining so beautifully and the breeze was cool and refreshing, I spent a peaceful hour enjoying the light, warmth and beauty of it all. It refreshed me and lifted me into a state of contentment and well-being that has stayed with me until now. I thought how lucky we are to have such things as the earth, sunlight, air and water to bless our lives in countless ways. I was filled with gratitude for those excellent gifts and hoped that everyone living might enjoy them as I did.

However, just a few days before this I came across some information that showed the trails of toxic radiation from the damaged reactor in Japan. There were dozens of images, each showing a different toxic, radioactive chemical. These chemicals were being carried on the air, across the ocean and over this country and Canada, floating silently overhead, unseen and almost completely unheralded.

As I sat in the sun, gazing around me at the beauty and wonder of creation, I couldn't help but be appalled by the danger and destruction that threatens on every side. Then I thought of how silly it was to worry about one reactor in Japan and the fallout from that disaster when the past fifty years have seen the world literally riddled with nuclear fall-out from the over two thousand nuclear explosions done for testing purposes with little or no recognition of the possible damage it might cause.

Then, for a hundred and fifty years, our land has been free from war. We have lived for generations in a land of peace and prosperity and cannot even fathom being without electricity, much less having to fight for the very soil upon which we stand. Yet, across the world there are dozens of countries and millions of people who are right now in conditions of turmoil and war that we here can hardly comprehend. We enjoy relative security while many parts of the world suffer the ravages of modern warfare with it's highly advanced chemical, nuclear and biological weapons that hold the greatest potential for suffering and death this world has ever seen.

Manufacturers produce and sell these awesome weapons to both sides of every conflict and governments hire people to wield the weapons against someone they have called the enemy. The manufacturer is happy because he is making money. The armies are happy because they have the weapons they need to fight their 'enemy'. The people from both sides who support the governments with taxes are happy because they feel that their freedom is being protected. It sounds ideal! Everyone should be happy!

However, just as the thought of the nuclear fall-out cast a shadow of worry over my lovely day in the sun, so the thought of millions of innocent women and children suffering untold misery because of these 'happy' wars casts a nameless gloom over my relative safety and peace. When I look into the sky, I cannot see the dangerous chemicals floating there. Similarly, when I think about my own safety I cannot see the millions of other people in this world who have perhaps never had safety or peace or even enough food.

The word optimism comes from the Latin word optimus meaning "the best". Yes, I would say I am an optimist. I believe in the best even when the worst is in the air I breathe, the water I drink, the earth I walk on and the sunlight coming down from the heavens, and even when the world is coming apart at the seams. It occurs to me that there may come a time when all I have is my hope, my optimism, when all around me is chaos and trouble. If that day should come, I hope I will not be so foolish as to abandon my hope, simply because what I see does not match that vision of “the best” because that is the seed by which a new life might grow and that is definitely worth holding on to.