Are We There Yet?

In a recent disaster, a man was asked why he wouldkeep searching for a loved one, even when he knewthere was little hope of any survivors. He was toldrepeatedly, the chances of finding anyone still alivewere very slim.

The man replied, "I don't want to wake up five yearsfrom now and ask - what if? What if I had only donethis or that?"

He wanted to exhaust all his options. Suppose thelost relative was still alive, injured somewhere andunable to speak or remember.

"If I do everything now... I won't be continuously askingmyself... what if I had only done that? What if only Ihad tried a little bit harder?"

This man's philosophy is one we should use to examineour own actions. Do you live up to such high standards?Do you exhaust all options, all opportunities... in thepursuit of your goals.

If you did; there would be no regrets. You would havegiven it your best shot. You would have exhausted allyour options. You could never ask yourself ... what if?

Or will you wake up years from now... and ask if onlyI had done that. If only I had followed my true feelings.

And what about the 'collective what if?'

Initial response to this recent disaster was criticized -it was said certain countries should have respondedquicker or offered more assistance...

As a society, or a group of people - is there also a'what if?'

Can we ask ourselves a collective what if...what if a nation or a group of nations had maxedout all their options and did everything they couldpossibly do to help in this situation. Surely, itwould make a difference.

And in doing so - wouldn't we also acquire the same'peace of mind' as this man. Just something to thinkabout.

At the same time - lets be realistic. We may notreach our goals.

As an artist I have always found the journey moreimportant and more interesting than the destination.The process more important than the product.

But artists are a little warped! Their thinking isa little off!

Or is it really, maybe we have just been looking atit in the wrong way. Maybe our thinking just hasn'tevolved yet - Darwin's been sleeping way too muchlately!

Maybe we should switch the gear to neutral andthrow it into reverse. Then we could say:

It's not so much the journey that counts; butwhat we do along the way.

The reach is the grasp!

For even if you're grasping at straws sometimes -at least you're making the effort.

You're doing the best you can possibly do.

Satisfaction can come from within, it doesn'talways have to be external or delusional! Thereis something to be said for 'that peace of mind'!

Especially, in very trying times such as a disaster,a personal crisis, or the loss of a loved one...it does make a difference.

Applied to the bigger picture - we may nevercompletely solve the world's problems...worldhunger, world peace or the latest world crisis.

All very daunting tasks. But it all starts withthe collective what if; or rather with everyoneworking together as a group to eliminate all the'what ifs'. To exhaust all possible options.

Perhaps, even more daunting, is the possibilityof all of us working together to help those inneed. Are we really at that stage? Will we everget there?

Maybe the journey is a little longer than wefirst thought and we're just not there yet.

Lets all hope it's just around the corner.

And that we all get there.

Titus Hoskins

Copyright © 2005

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