END START
The end of anything can be the beginning of something better.
I can't go along entirely with the idea that everything must end, because it is obvious that some things do not terminate even when - or especially when - it appears they have done so. Some situations hang on in an altered guise, perhaps, to continue to affect our lives, of others about us and the lives stemming from us. That has something to do with the man's concept of “Hell", I , at times, suspect.
We live in an era of amazing contradictions as is. We kill thousands of our kind attempting to go faster in various systems of motion; we are careless in many matters of public concern, and we engage in wars and individual strife which are admittedly harmful. At the same time we develop medical marvels and find new and better ways to restore the human body as it is imperiled by disease, accident, poor diet, or plain old age, overuse and mis-use.
A war has just “ended”, but we don't really believe that, do we? The war continues, in a mutated form. It has different name, a different focus, perhaps, which exists with a slightly different texture and style. War is one of those things which never truly never ends. We make false plans for ideal associations in those times when the scourge of war seems to have departed. The basic causes remain in so many cases and they pop up now and again at the slightest instigation.
We, as individuals, face up to certain times in our lives when we experience genuine"“endings". They may come in the form of blessings or tragic loss but is those times of change that we find we can, indeed, start over once more an build a worthy life with values we admire and cherish for ourselves and for others about us.
We learn to look for new beginnings when such an event strikes our lives. What kid has not looked forward to the end of the formal school year? They do so in anticipation of dreams of summer-time freedom and enjoyment in the vast, unexperienced world of interesting things ahead. The very same child, sixty days or so later, plans for the beginning of a new school year with friends and the opportunity to do things ...ever learn something along the way.
Education, as well, then, is something which doesn't really end.
Whatever you are doing today determines what you will be doing tomorrow. That which occupies the mind at any given moment, often determines what our actions may well be. To be sure of a worthy future,learn how to put a genuine end to those elements in our life which have been working against your well being.
Work with the challenge of possible change in your life. Put an end to that which is hurting you. If you do not do so, you are merely extending your problem under a new disguise. Good, clean, clear endings make new beginnings possible.
A.L.M. May 17, 2003 [c801wds].
