I had an idea for a theme to write to you for Christmas. Now, with the events of the past 2 days in Sydney, it seems to me that this theme is even more poignant, as we come to terms with tragedy. And so, I write this now with a slightly different flavour than originally thought. I invite you to read it and to ponder what it means to you this holiday season.
A couple of weeks ago, I gave a talk at my Toastmasters club called My Magical Mystery Tour. While I was focussing on my personal journey and the wonders and mysteries of the things I had studied, it also led me to the movie Magic Mystery Tour. While this is far from being a good movie, I watched it anyway, hoping to gleam some great quote I could use in my talk.
The quote I found has sat with me ever since and I have used it on a number of occasions. The other day I was talking with someone about what she does; Beautiful work for people who are struggling. While focussing on this and the negativity in these people’s lives, the conversation starting to hit a bit of downer. It is so easy to focus on what is wrong with the world, what we don’t like, the horror and tragedy. The media is full of it.
I then pulled out my bright new shinny quote from the movie. “If you look to the left, ladies and gentlemen, the view is very uninspiring…..argh, but if you look to the right.”
If we are constantly looking at the negative, life can be very uninspiring. We see violence, terrorism, hatred, war and tragedies. We get lost in depression and sadness. In whatever situation occurs I like to look around and focus on what the true human spirit of love, generosity and caring shines through.
The horrific circumstances and outcome of the hostage situation at the Lindt Café hit us all hard. After all, it could be any of us, just enjoying the simple pleasures of chocolate and coffee and at a café that many of us, even not from Sydney have visited. We know this café, we know the surrounding area. This is close to us.
While I sit with the grief we all feel over this, I can also look beyond. I see the love and concern expressed by the community in general. People reaching out a little further to stand in solidarity with others in the community who dress and believe differently. We all share the grief. We stand together as a community in condemnation of these events, because our community is a peace loving community. We trust and care for each other.
Very often I can just be driving down the road and suddenly go into awe of just how much we just trust each other in our lives. I see someone walking down the road and it comes to me that in order for us to go about our daily lives, to walk down the street, to go to the shops, to catch public transport, to travel, go to school, go to work, to play, sing and dance, everything we do in our lives we trust everyone else in our community to allow us to do that. We trust that someone will be there if and when we need help. We can’t do any of this without having within us the knowledge that people are generally kind and loving. Without this inbuilt sense we would be trapped in our homes.
Instead we go about our lives, trusting and believing in those who share this wondrous planet with us.
Yes there is a lot of tragedy around us. There are many things that get us down and give us great reason for concern. However this Christmas, I invite you to look in the other direction, where the view is very inspiring.
I see people loving and caring for others. Volunteering their time and services to help others.
I see people fighting for the rights of the underprivileged and the refugees.
I see people working hard to protect this earth and environment.
I see people giving generously to others, just because they can.
I see people just offering a small act of kindness that makes someone else’s day.
I see people sharing words of encouragement and inspiration to help us all move forward on our path to a more loving and abundant world.
I see good people, like you, every day dedicating and committing your lives to make this world a better place.
I honour and give my greatest gratitude and appreciation for all these people.
We can look in one direction this holiday season and see the despair and tragedies. Be depressed and sad about life. Or we can choose to look in the other direction and see the beauty, the inspiration, the love and generosity of our follow human beings.
May your holiday season be blessed and filled with wonder of the true love and kindness of the human spirit.