“The Future is not Ours to See”…or is it?
You have heard that line before. It sounds a cliché and just another Hollywood pickup line or the like but I see so much wisdom in it. Not only we don’t know what is going to happen to us five hours from now, but also five minutes from now. I would even dare to say that everything could change in our lives as fast as a blink of an eye. It is not that life has something in store for us or fate is all there is. I don’t buy that crap.
My personal belief is that although it is true that we cannot predict what is going to come our way, we may be able to “guess” based on our previous and present choices. OK, another punch line! Well, I don’t care because I trust this one. Yes, there may be sliding rocks falling off on the road here and there but whenever we are good defensive drivers chances are we will manage to find a detour to turn or break if need be. In my opinion ( and I took a long time to learn because I am a slow learner), it all comes to how much we respect ourselves and others. This is an equation where one variable depends totally on the other one. We have been told since forever these things but we not always follow such instructions. At least, I didn’t.
I used to ( and still do) love people no matter what. For me, love was ( and is) the solely reality there is and all else is a sheer fantasy. The hindus call is Lilla or the dream of Krishna. Whatever you call it, love is real and the rest are just toys that God ( or life, or the universe or the shrooms you had last night) placed there just for us not to get bored. This is a strong belief I have always had and still do. However, I forgot to read the part two of the life instructions’ manual which explained the importance of respect in life, concluding that without that ingredient our life recipe will be incomplete. Love without respect would be like having all the necessary skills to cook a delicious meal without the oven to stim it. It doesn’t work. This is what happened to me. I missed the mark by skipping that chapter of the manual. As a consequence, I ended up not respecting pretty much anyone around me, simply because I could not respect myself in the first place. And that was my very main flaw. Today I understand that most suffering that came my way was a consequence of that lack of respect. Somehow things had the tendency to go sour and not work out despite my “love thy neighbour” practice. No wonder things could not work out the way I wanted because I didn’t respect people, including myself among these people.
Looking back in time now, when I sold my car and went to London without sharing that with my parents I lack respect for them. When I told the cleaning company at Earl’s Court that they could count on me as a cleaner north of Thames and I never showed up I didn’t respect those guys. When I told myself that I would not procrastinate anymore butI did , I showed no respect for myself. The list goes on and on and on and on.
Respect.
This is crucial. Love is essencial and without love there is nothing to hope for in life. True. Nevertheless, we need to show some…no, not some. A LOT of respect for the world within and around us because if without love there is no hope, without respect there is no love. It is as simple as that.
