We must ask ourselves, "What would life be if we did not have to endure adversity? Would we still have the fire to be resilient and powerful?" In my opinion, without adversity there would be no conviction for us to strive for the greater, to look away from the lesser and go running towards our destiny. Why stop a terrible habit if we there are no consequences? Why stop to look at the beauty in this world when you could focus on the material things? Adversity enters our lives to remind us of our journey towards the greater. While it can seem never-ending and impossible to understand, adversity is a gift placed in front of us. We must accept the gift, and meticulously place it alongside the expected gifts life brings us. By expected gifts I mean the success, the relationships, family, friends, a passing grade, a beautiful sunset, the perfect career. All of these things are expected to enter our lives, we have been told this since the day we were born. On the other hand, there are gifts that we can't be told will come our way. These unexpected gifts are what occupy the space between each expected gift that life brings. We must cherish these gifts. A gift resides in every moment, but it takes our understanding of resilience and our life's journey to receive them as such things of beauty and force.
Look to the Sequoia tree for inspiration. These are the world's largest trees in respect to volume -- depth. The oldest tree happens to be 3,200 years old, but that isn't the greatest miracle that trees have harnessed. While they are beautiful in their statistics, their true nature is where we will find our lesson. The bark of the Sequoia tree happens to be about two feet thick -- causing the tree to be virtually fire resistant. In addition to this phenomena, their seed cones have also accepted high temperatures, ultimately joining the fire in a cosmic rhythm that cause them to blossom under dangerous conditions. While some seed shed under the normal heat of summer, the greatest number are liberated when they endure the heat from forest fires. We must let the fire burn at our feet -- ultimately rising majestic and powerful in our survival, just as the Sequoia.
I want to leave you all with my own personal story. Growing up I always loved going to spend nights at my grandparents house here in Washington. While my brothers and cousins would love to wrestle with my grandpa, I found greater joy in listening to him talk about his life. I also found myself enjoying my grandma singing the gospel as she cooked us breakfast, and drove us around town. While I didn't actually enjoy the music all of the time, I enjoyed her company. I enjoyed both my grandparents company twice as much, because I knew that on the other side of the country I had another set of grandparents that I barely knew. This was something that I always thought about as a child. How could you have family that you don't really know? How could you not see your grandparents every weekend? This caused me to write about my Grandma Bell in school. I would write about our phone calls, or the rare visits we would take to her house in Florida. While a lot of my life I did not get to say I knew her that well, I knew I loved her. So when I got the chance to get to know her this past year I was overjoyed. I felt extremely blessed that I finally had my grandma in my house -- in my state. Sitting with her watching Spongebob, Teen Wolf, Hallmark movies, and just having deep talks about life was probably the greatest joy I had felt in a long time -- I finally knew her. I finally had both sets of grandparents in one place -- the greatest luxury life has brought me. I had both sets on my birthday, both sets for family events, both sets at my graduation. My Grandma Bell got see me graduate before she passed away. She did the one thing she always told me she would -- she watched me take the next step in my life. After all the pain that junior high brought me, after all the clarity high school bestowed, she got to see me move towards my future. So, when she passed away I was devastated, I thought I had lost the connection that I had waited for my entire life -- but complete opposite happened. It got stronger. I live everyday feeling her energy flow through me as I walk to class every morning and look at the sunrise. I feel her before every midterm telling me, "Its all gonna work out Meat Man." I feel my grandma more than ever, and I plan to live my life in remembrance and joy of her presence. Life had brought me the miracle of connecting with her, and brought me the unexpected gift of her passing. While I didn't want to lose her, she was tired of suffering, tired of going in and out of the hospital. Little did I know that her passing would be the driving force to achieve my destiny. She believed in me more than anything, and I intend to make her proud.
I miss you more than anything Grandma, but I know that my life is not over, and I am doing the things that you knew I could. I love you, I miss you, I feel you, and I continue to live for you. Rest in peace, and continue to dance! Sincerely, Meat Man.
We must let the fire burn at our feet -- ultimately rising majestic and powerful in our survival.
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