This week I ran into a dear colleague on the street, a friend from our university days. One day, the doctor gave her a diagnosis serious enough to send her running to the notary, but luckily they were able to find a treatment (research is making great strides, and we live in a country that makes it readily available), and what was supposed to be just three months has now stretched to over three years.
She was radiant, smiling, and relaxed: "I'm off, I'm meeting a friend to celebrate." "To celebrate what?" And she says: "You know, I, who never had anything clear before, now have my priorities crystal clear. I know we should celebrate the things in life much more. That we shouldn't suffer so much, I'd almost say not even for our children, and that we should be happier and more relaxed."
For a moment, I felt as if she were speaking to me from a higher vantage point, one I couldn't reach without first going through a similar ordeal. But, in reality, everyone knows that you don't need to face the horrifying prospect of losing everything to appreciate all the good things around you.
It's not easy, because we don't have time and we live surrounded by reasons to be angry, anxious, and thin. And we lose the desire to celebrate anything. There's always worse news than yesterday's, and on social media, people can be as cruel as they are cowardly. And yet, the bright side of life is just as real as the miserable side. The good things in life are already here, and all that's needed is a little pause to look at them with the attention they deserve and experience the joy and the desire to share them that they bring. I thought about these things after running into a friend who was eager to celebrate, and I decided that today I would tell her.
