Recently, I learned of two tragedies that made me consider life from a different perspective. One involved a man who faced an impossible decision after a fall, a result of a vertigo-induced condition caused by successful chemotherapy. The other tragedy was the story of a man who had been silently battling his inner demons for years, following the loss of his wife to a long-term illness.
The first man had reached the precipice of his working life and was ready to enjoy an active retirement that matched his previous occupation. As a builder, he defined his life through creation, finding value in the satisfaction of turning nothing into something. His life was inexplicably altered after a vertigo-induced fall—the result of chemotherapy that had successfully halted the progression of cancer— from its prior trajectory. Paralyzed from the neck down, he will likely spend the rest of his life without the use of his arms and legs.
The second man, a quiet and sorrowful soul, had lost his wife to illness several years before I met him. The pain of his loss was too much to bear, and he chose to end his life. His story is a poignant reminder of the struggles that many face, even those who seem strong and capable on the surface.
No lesson emerges to me, no parable to paraphrase, just a hollow sense of waste. It makes me grateful for all that we have, which is borrowed through the grace of our existence, often shrouded in the shadows of life’s uncertainties. Life is hard, from the moment we are born until we reach life’s inescapable end, if for no discernable reason, then for explanations beyond our ken.
It is crucial to extend kindness and understanding to those who are in pain, even if their expressions of it may seem foreign or incendiary. Love without reservation or restraint, for in the end, kindness and compassion are all that endure.