Sometimes in life the purpose for our existence is thrust upon us instead of being a matter of true choice.
My grandfather on my mother’s side, Fred Coords, found his reason for being in the form a family tragedy.
When my brother Wally was born severely mentally disabled, both he and my grandmother took him to live with them. My dad was in the military and moving around the country and the world with such a profoundly disabled child would have been impossible.
On holidays and during my dad’s annual leave we would all be together. It was always a bittersweet time. Only as an adult did I fully recognize what a tremendous selfless and compassionate task my grandparents took upon themselves back so long ago. God bless them both.
During those years, my grandfather told my mother that without doubt, his very existence on earth was for a single purpose–to care for my brother.
All of those people are gone now but the story about my grandfather has always stood out in my mind. In this age of “what’s in it for me?” thinking, I wonder how many of us would take on such a task?
Me, I’ve got a very long way to go to match my grandfather but it becomes increasingly clear that I couldn’t have had a better role model.
How about you? What’s your purpose?
4 Comment(s)
I’m almost in daily debate with myself on my ‘purpose’ on this earth…Some days I feel that I have plenty to learn myself, about patience and my fellow humans and how I react to situations, then reflecting on those situations and making a note to myself to.. ‘not do that again!’
And other days it’s as clear as a bell that I feel I am on the right path by helping my friends, family, colleagues and acquaintances by being just me and being in their reality…imparting my experiences of life with my colleagues, friends and family, learning from them and imparting my experience and observations of my world to them to give them just ‘another angle on it’…and primarily being there for them. If I am to be pigeon holed, I reckon my path is of a helper, spreader of experience and expounding the virtues and beauty of the amazing stuff that happens on this rock 🙂 So the next time I see a grumpy bus driver, I’ll have the realisation that I have the power to change his reality…how you say? I’ll just smile and say ‘gidday’. That should nudge the earth of it’s axis just a touch! Thanks for the opportunity to make comment…best wishes.
Hi Maria,
Please forgive my tardiness in responding. Things have been very chaotic around here.
Excellent words you shared with me. I really enjoyed reading what you had to say. I especially liked one description of your personal efforts where you talked about tilting the axis just a bit. Yes, that’s exactly it. If we work on being truly mindful and compassionate, minute-by-minute, we can add that goodness to that of others and shift the balance. Small as each effort might seem, like the butterfly wings beating in the tropical rain forest, we can have an effect on our small share of reality.
Doug
This is very touching, and makes me think in ways I would not have thought about my own purpose in life. Thank you for posting…
Hey Julia,
So glad you liked it.
Doug
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