I hope you’ll indulge me in some philosophical thoughts on time and living life. Actually, I’m going to share them anyway. Last night we watched a great movie, Mr. Magorioum’s Wonder Emporium. It dovetailed with several pieces I’ve read and watched lately on the topic of life and living.
Mr. Magorium is a centuries old gentleman (played by Dustin Hoffman) who has decided that his story is written and it’s time for his beloved store manager’s story to really start. It’s a story of how one story gives way to the next. As Mr. Magorium is saying good-bye to Molly Mahoney he tells her, “Life is an opportunity. Live up to it.” Therin lies the magic that made his store work and gives life the magic that makes it worth living. This was very close to the key moment in Tuck Everlasting when the can-not-die Tuck is explaining to the young girl who stumbled onto the family why she should stay as she is–growing, maturing, and ultimately dying. He explains that dying is part of living, part of being part of a living world in which one generation gives way for the next to live. He says, “Do not try to live forever. Live fully.”
Among these thoughts swirl recent arguments in two magazines we get on population control and health care rationing/decision making, the impending birth of our 6th child, and the privilage of watching 3 grandparents walk through their twilight years. Add to that the spring, life renewing time of year. In contrast, we set our all time chicken processing record this week by processing 232 pheasants in one day. They were birds who’s original life purpose as game birds was changed by the economy and who therefore found a new purpose in our freezers. All except for the 6 who vaporized with a flap and whir over the barn roof when the bottom fell off their crate as we carried them to the shop. Today we are joining my family to celebrate the spring birthdays–8 of them. 8 lives all brought into different times, places, and situations. 8 different people adding their richness to the world. Who’s to arbitrarily say any one of them should be “culled” because their contribution doesn’t meet some standard. Life is a gift we don’t have a choice to receive. We do have a choice what we do with the time we have here. (See a previous blog for comments on that.) We do have a choice about how we treat other lives. And at some point in the process we’ll give way for other lives to live their stories. It’s a cycle that’s bigger than each individual that is part of it, but we all contribute our own magic and story, and that makes it go round.
So we have life, time, and the privilage of choice. I hope you find fullness in your life today. For my part, I’m putting my bread in the oven, then I’m leaving the house floors unswept to go outside with my family and to clean the goat barn. It’s a sunny, warm, spring day after all–to wonderful to be spent inside with the computer!
