Many people today believe the end of the world is near, or at least the world as we know it now. Along with this belief comes the fear of death and dying, or of suffering and/or losing our loved ones as a result of cataclysmic events.
In truth, the "beginning of the end of the world" began for me September 11, 2001. I was struggling with graduate school, working part time at the high school as a substitute teacher at the same time as I was trying to finish student teaching after earning my bachelor's degree August 2001, and all the while taking care of my young twins and a house with only my mother to help me. (Thank God for my mother and father's help during these times!)
At any rate, I was student teaching the day I heard about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center and moments later, we all heard about the second plane crash, and I knew immediately this was no accident. My students asked me why this was happening and all I could say was, "I don't know."
Within a week, my parents gave me an ultimatum: they would not support me any longer in graduate school as they believed the undergraduate degree was enough college and I should be able to get a job with that alone. Not so, for my student teaching was in the graduate level courses and I could not get a teaching certificate in Georgia without completing the master's program in which I was enrolled at Valdosta State. Nevertheless, I lost heart after 9-11, along with my will to continue the long commute from Bainbridge to Valdosta, and so I applied for a job with The Post-Searchlight, a local newspaper, where I became a news writer for six and a half years.
As I covered local events, political and military news, I became more aware of the state of the world than ever before. I spoke with people from all walks of life and found out that most of them, like myself, were engaged in day-to-day survival and making ends meet, raising children, paying bills and hoping for the best. But when I had time to think about such things, I realized I was not ready for any kind of disaster: I had no supplies or savings or any kind of plan of action that would safely see my family through a major upheaval. On the other hand, what kind of safeguards can keep us safe from a 9-11 event? If such a thing should occur here in the deep South, we would be no safer than the more than 2,000 souls who lost their lives simply by showing up for work on time one beautiful late summer day.
Bottom line then, the only preparation we can make is to prepare ourselves for death, and hope that there is something after this life to wake up to. I once heard a story about someone asking God about what it was like to die. He told the person it is like going to bed. The person said, "Do you mean it is like going to sleep?" and God supposedly said, "No, it is like when you wake up in the morning after sleeping all night."
If that is true (and wouldn't it be nice if it were) then the lives we are living now are the nightmares, the dreaming, and our real lives will begin in the morning, when we awaken to another existence. There is only today, then, and what we will make of it. "Carpe diem" ... sieze the day, and live each day as if it were your last. Do not go to bed angry with anyone, and forgive others for their meanness to you. Remember what Socrates said: If all our misfortunes were lumped together, with everyone forced to take an equal share, people would be glad to take back their own. And remember that "rudeness is a weak man's imitation of strength" (Eric Hoffman), so make your words sweet as you may have to eat them. (Susie Beck Braswell)
Remember, too, Etienne de Grellet's advice:"I shall pass this way but once;any good, therefore, that I can do; or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again."
Remember that "a man who is not satisfied with a little will be satisfied with nothing" (Epicurus) and that "the significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." (Albert Einstein) Remember that "there is no 'one-and-only' ... there are just 'one-and-only' moments; we cannot expect continuity of being loved alone, " per Anne Morrow Lindbergh, that "happiness makes up in height what it lacks in length." (Robert Frost)
But also keep in mind that "It's a funny thing about life: If you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it" (W. Somerset Maugham) and that "life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful" (Annette Funicello) and "the heart that loves is always young" (Anon.)
"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year" as Ralph Waldo Emerson suggests. Remember that "if you judge people, you have no time to love them," as Mother Teresa noted. Remember that "it's by what you do that you communicate to others that you are deeply involved in their well being" (Ashley Montagu) and that "we make a living by what we get, (but) we make a life by what we give" (Winston Churchill) and that "a wise man will make more opportunites than he finds." (Francis Bacon)
And above all keep in mind what Mahatma Gandhi said about life: "A man cannot do right in one department of life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong in any other department. Life is one, indivisible whole." He also said, "Let us fear God and we shall cease to fear man." The Lord told us to focus on each day, do our best to do our duty, serve our fellow man and give the glory to our Creator, and all shall be well.
We cannot hope to change the world or other people, we cannot control what others will do or how the world will end. But we can and should be the best persons we can be and remember that God loves a grateful soul. Be thankful for all, and do well, and things will work to the good in your life. Be patient in suffering and forgiving of all. That is all that we can do, no matter what goes on in the world around us ... it has to be enough, then.
In truth, the "beginning of the end of the world" began for me September 11, 2001. I was struggling with graduate school, working part time at the high school as a substitute teacher at the same time as I was trying to finish student teaching after earning my bachelor's degree August 2001, and all the while taking care of my young twins and a house with only my mother to help me. (Thank God for my mother and father's help during these times!)
At any rate, I was student teaching the day I heard about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center and moments later, we all heard about the second plane crash, and I knew immediately this was no accident. My students asked me why this was happening and all I could say was, "I don't know."
Within a week, my parents gave me an ultimatum: they would not support me any longer in graduate school as they believed the undergraduate degree was enough college and I should be able to get a job with that alone. Not so, for my student teaching was in the graduate level courses and I could not get a teaching certificate in Georgia without completing the master's program in which I was enrolled at Valdosta State. Nevertheless, I lost heart after 9-11, along with my will to continue the long commute from Bainbridge to Valdosta, and so I applied for a job with The Post-Searchlight, a local newspaper, where I became a news writer for six and a half years.
As I covered local events, political and military news, I became more aware of the state of the world than ever before. I spoke with people from all walks of life and found out that most of them, like myself, were engaged in day-to-day survival and making ends meet, raising children, paying bills and hoping for the best. But when I had time to think about such things, I realized I was not ready for any kind of disaster: I had no supplies or savings or any kind of plan of action that would safely see my family through a major upheaval. On the other hand, what kind of safeguards can keep us safe from a 9-11 event? If such a thing should occur here in the deep South, we would be no safer than the more than 2,000 souls who lost their lives simply by showing up for work on time one beautiful late summer day.
Bottom line then, the only preparation we can make is to prepare ourselves for death, and hope that there is something after this life to wake up to. I once heard a story about someone asking God about what it was like to die. He told the person it is like going to bed. The person said, "Do you mean it is like going to sleep?" and God supposedly said, "No, it is like when you wake up in the morning after sleeping all night."
If that is true (and wouldn't it be nice if it were) then the lives we are living now are the nightmares, the dreaming, and our real lives will begin in the morning, when we awaken to another existence. There is only today, then, and what we will make of it. "Carpe diem" ... sieze the day, and live each day as if it were your last. Do not go to bed angry with anyone, and forgive others for their meanness to you. Remember what Socrates said: If all our misfortunes were lumped together, with everyone forced to take an equal share, people would be glad to take back their own. And remember that "rudeness is a weak man's imitation of strength" (Eric Hoffman), so make your words sweet as you may have to eat them. (Susie Beck Braswell)
Remember, too, Etienne de Grellet's advice:"I shall pass this way but once;any good, therefore, that I can do; or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again."
Remember that "a man who is not satisfied with a little will be satisfied with nothing" (Epicurus) and that "the significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." (Albert Einstein) Remember that "there is no 'one-and-only' ... there are just 'one-and-only' moments; we cannot expect continuity of being loved alone, " per Anne Morrow Lindbergh, that "happiness makes up in height what it lacks in length." (Robert Frost)
But also keep in mind that "It's a funny thing about life: If you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it" (W. Somerset Maugham) and that "life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful" (Annette Funicello) and "the heart that loves is always young" (Anon.)
"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year" as Ralph Waldo Emerson suggests. Remember that "if you judge people, you have no time to love them," as Mother Teresa noted. Remember that "it's by what you do that you communicate to others that you are deeply involved in their well being" (Ashley Montagu) and that "we make a living by what we get, (but) we make a life by what we give" (Winston Churchill) and that "a wise man will make more opportunites than he finds." (Francis Bacon)
And above all keep in mind what Mahatma Gandhi said about life: "A man cannot do right in one department of life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong in any other department. Life is one, indivisible whole." He also said, "Let us fear God and we shall cease to fear man." The Lord told us to focus on each day, do our best to do our duty, serve our fellow man and give the glory to our Creator, and all shall be well.
We cannot hope to change the world or other people, we cannot control what others will do or how the world will end. But we can and should be the best persons we can be and remember that God loves a grateful soul. Be thankful for all, and do well, and things will work to the good in your life. Be patient in suffering and forgiving of all. That is all that we can do, no matter what goes on in the world around us ... it has to be enough, then.
"Be still, and know that I am God." (Psalms 46:10)
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