I’ve been thinking about change recently. It started with an email from Ann, a close cousin of mine. Her now-considered uninhabitable Florida home was hit by Hurricane Ian and picking up the pieces of that life, knowing changes are ahead, has been quite the journey.
Progress on my cousin’s home after months of work
Ann compares house re-building and all that entails with Dante’s Divine Comedy –“Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.” Ann said, “Sometimes you have to find a different path to get to where you want to go.”
It is hard for this security-minded human to accept change. I’m quite happy, thank you, in my predictable life. Unwanted injuries, age related infirmaries, heart-breaking losses, all force me to crawl out of my comfortable shell and deal with a new reality.
Those 1950s TV shows depicting women vacuuming in high heels, those mothers to slightly mischievous children, women or families who might face some endearing changes, did me no favors. What a shock to discover the real world filled with real people. People who must face change.
After finishing a 6.5-mile hike yesterday, my fellow hikers and I discussed various methods for coping with changing knees, hips and backs. Another hiker friend is dealing with heart-breaking changes brought on by the death of her son. Her different path now includes visiting the recipients of her deceased son’s organs, gaining comfort knowing that her son’s heart is still beating, but in a different body.
Thich Nhat Hanh
My cousin ended her email with a piece by the famous author and spiritual leader, Nhat Hanh. These words brought me comfort, and as a constant reminder, I plan to print it and put it on my refrigerator.
“We are often sad and suffer a lot when things change, but change and impermanence have a positive side. Thanks to impermanence, everything is possible. Life itself is possible. If a grain of corn is not impermanent, it can never be transformed into a stalk of corn. If the stalk were not impermanent, it could never provide us with the ear of corn we eat. If your daughter is not impermanent, she cannot grow up to become a woman. Then your grandchildren would never manifest. So instead of complaining about impermanence, we should say, ‘Warm welcome and long live impermanence.’ We should be happy.”
Cindy Arp, teacher/librarian, retired from Knox County Schools. She and husband Dan live in Heiskell. And she goes hiking once a week – even with a bum knee.