Recently attention was drawn to one of the challenges faced by a female candidate during a heated primary campaign.
It made me squirm, and at the risk of sounding like Pollyanna, I felt like saying, 'Challenges are good."
That sounds controversial I realize, but they truly are akin to dominos. Each one that falls in our path unleashes another strength we never realized we had.
My Mother believed utterly and absolutely in tough love. A bit hard to live with, I must admit, but in retrospect her wisdom made me stronger.
One day in preadolescence, I explained quietly and softly to her that I was no longer able to go to school, or frankly, leave the house. She listened, didn't reply, and before I knew what had happened, I was standing outside the locked door with my schoolbag in one hand and lunch box in the other. Obviously, there are many child advocates who would be horrified by her approach, but in my case it worked. I not only completed the day, the term, but also my education.
Life offers us many challenges. Some are frightening. Almost like standing on the edge of a cliff wondering if you will fall. And sometimes, you do, but when you get up again, bloody and bruised,
you feel your own strength.
I think the biggest challenge is love. When you give it, you open yourself to everything wonderful, and when the one you care about is called away at the end of his journey, you wonder if you can go on. And you do, and ultimately realize the validity of love that endures forever.
Admittedly, it is harder when a beloved in your circle of love takes a leave of absence from your life without any return reservation, leaving you to wonder if you can face the world. Once again, you find you can, and are fortified by the power of enduring love. Because when and if the wayward traveler returns, the love will be intact.
There is a young man sharing my world who has had many challenges in the twenty years of his life. He has faced all of them with not only courage, but a joie de vivre that defies description. My husband and I never forgot the day he recited the words to his favorite song, "What A
Wonderful World." The time I spend with him constantly reinforces my belief that our gift of life is not only exciting but beautiful.
I wish the female candidate well in her continued political career, but I hope sometime she recalls the oft quoted saying, "Consider the alternative." She has reached a peak of political achievement that was unknown for many men or women. The challenges will only make her stronger if she goes forward rather than looking backward.
Sometimes they are the zest of life.
