Beginnings

On my daily review of Facebook, my fellow blogger posted a link to a piece written for the Yale Daily News.  (http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2012/may/27/keegan-opposite-loneliness/)  The piece was centered on graduation, and that reminded me that one of my favorite things about this time of year is the various inspirational words that are spoken at graduations across the country.  In many graduation speeches, whether high school or college, a common theme revolves around the concept of “this is not the end, but instead a beginning.”

Beginnings.  I’m going to pretend to make a connection that most graduations occur in the spring, and isn’t spring really a beginning?  The beginning of the new natural year, when grass and flowers and trees bud, pop out, and reach up from the cold, dead, greyness of winter. Where life seems new and renewed.   It’s been said that in every life some rain must fall (April showers), but without that there would be no May flowers.  

Yes, I can see clearly now, the rain is gone - I see all obstacles in my way - gone are the dark clouds that had me blind - it's gonna be a bright, bright, sun-shiny day.

Too many times in life, we feel stuck in the middle…in the middle of a rut, between a rock and a hard place, trapped with no easy way out.  Other times, we get caught up in the ends.  When is the day going to end? When is this pain going to end?  Is my job going to end?  

But shouldn’t life be about the beginnings?  Every day has a beginning, after the dark of night.  It’s never too late for a beginning.  A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.  The past is but the beginning of a beginning, and all that is or has been is but the twilight of the dawn.

…and though this post has come to an end, hopefully this has triggered some thoughts, and actions, to begin...

(Includes quotes by Johnny Nash, Lao Tsu, and H.G. Wells)