Life is filled with opportunities to begin a story. Sometimes you encounter a bit of news, observe an interpersonal interaction, or simply see a post on Google+ or Facebook.
Today, for example, I was writing a private message on Facebook to my cousin about the ups and downs of life and when I re-read it I realized it was a fully developed theme for a story.
If you really are a writer – if you really have the natural instincts (and perhaps the chops) – then even casual conversations you have or that your post can inspire a whole exploration of a topic, concept, lifestyle or activity.
As an example, here’s the message I sent to my cousin today (which I later reposted publicly on both my personal(non-story-structure-oriented) Google+ and Facebook accounts:
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When they say, “There is no greater gift than to lay one’s life down for another” most people think they are talking about dying, as in sacrificing oneself in war. But I often thought that when we dedicate ourselves to others – family, friends, a commitment to service – then we are, in a very real sense, laying down our lives for others – one moment at a time.
And which is the greater sacrifice - to have an instant of bravery in which one is not thinking about ceasing to exist and jumps almost instinctively in front of the bullet, the decision to stay behind to run the escape elevator, knowing you will slowly suffocate, or to choose everyday to lose your own life, dreams, even personality, for the benefit of those you love?
I personally believe that later choice is the most noble of all, for it is made alone, within oneself, over and over again each time you awaken.
Sure, we are able to pursue some of our interests to some degree, but the sacrifice is real as we watch the dreams that once drove us pale and fade into impossibility.
Still, the rewards are many – the smiling faces of our children, the peaceful face of our mate when he or she sleeps, the relief (expressed or simply exhibited) by those to whom we have been of service.
I believe we must come to realize that while we may wish our lives had evolved differently or that the choppy seas of fate might have cast us higher on the shore, life is not perfect nor is happiness a right.
And, in the end, if we had chosen any other more self-oriented path we would find the sum total of our lives and the contentment of our hearts (though not what we had hoped) would be far less by a magnitude than it is having laid it down for others instead.
