There was a time in life when I felt invincible. Like I was on top of the world. On cloud nine with no means of letting go and lifting off.
I felt unbeatable. And unstoppable. The concept of life and death never really hit me too deeply. I was just going around naively and blissfully enjoying life.
Studying for the sake of studying. And my primary worry was getting good grades so that I could get into a good college.
My parents took care of everything for me. And I was thankful to have the funds and resources available to sign up for extracurriculars - like tennis, taek won do, piano, skiing, and much more.
I wasn’t necessarily spoiled as a kid. But, I did have it good. I thought about death as something that was in the far and distant future. Nothing to worry about in the here and now.
This coronavirus pandemic has certainly shed light on the fragility of human life. How everything can be taken away from you in just a snap of the finger.
It’s kind of scary when you think too deeply about it. We are not as invincible as we thought we were. We are mere human beings in this grand universe trying to get by.
It’s a kind of heartful vulnerability and it makes life that much more worth living and appreciating. If there were any silver lining from the coronavirus, it is this.
That we should all simply appreciate how good we have it. Appreciate the things we have. Appreciate the things we don’t have. And just appreciate life for what it is.
Worth it from the start to finish. This doesn’t mean that we blindly look away at the injustice and the damaging events that are present in our society.
We still must fight for the change we believe in. We still need to give back to our beautiful communities for helping raise us into the men and women we are today.
We still must voice our opinions on issues that are of concern for us. We must fight for the greater good, whatever your perspective of good is.
These are all things that we still need to do as human beings. Just once in a while though, it is okay to step back and see how good we already have it as well.
The two perspectives are not mutually exclusive. You can be grateful for what you have, while still fighting to be an agent for change in the issues that you believe in.
It’s not rocket science. And it can be done seamlessly and easily. Every little step that we take in this world, we should do it with awareness and gratitude.
Not everything in this life can call themselves a human being. And we are lucky to be here in this world - acting out this grand play of life.
The vulnerability of death makes everything that much sweeter. Think about it, how would you feel if you were immortal? If everything you did had no consequence at all?
How responsible would you be? Immortality would wreck this society that we live in. Human beings thrive on their vulnerable nature.
By realizing that death comes for us all, we will better appreciate the present moment. By recounting the struggles we have in life, we similarly grow to cherish the here and now with stronger gratitude.
We will better appreciate the fleeting times we have with our families. With our relatives. With our friends. Every moment is beautiful. Every experience is a treasure that cannot be taken away from us.
The fragile nature of the human condition is what makes everything so sweet and natural. The fact that we will all perish one day makes this life the roller coaster adventure that it should be.
We will not be on this world forever. We will all struggle through tough times. We all know what it feels like to be “sick”. We’ve been there before. Because we are human.
And as humans, our vulnerabilities and our fragility is well-documented. But, that’s nothing to be ashamed of. That very fragility is the very reason we can laugh. We can smile. We can enjoy. We can love. We can be in bliss.
The vulnerability within all human beings is what ties us together. When we struggle, hopefully we will be there for each other to be picked up. This feeling of unity and oneness is the product of our trying times.
So, in a sense, we need to be thankful for the struggles we encounter. For the moments that make us shed tears of sorrow. Those moments are what makes us better appreciate the happiness and the fullness of life.
The fragile nature of human beings should be embraced and not be taken for granted.