♪ L'Chaim.. to Life!

Life has a way of confusing us,

Blessing and bruising us,

Drink   l'chaim , to life!

God would like us to be joyful, 

even when our hearts lie panting on the floor.

How much more can we be joyful, when there's really

something to be joyful for?

To life, to life, l'chaim!

A cast of people portraying Russian peasants sings this in the classic musical, Fiddler on the Roof. The setting was 1905, in Czarist Russia, where the monarchy lived in opulence and the populace lived from moment to moment, if they survived the harsh climate of pre-industrial Russia at all.

Just this last Saturday, we drank, to Life! To Blessings!  It’s a new year… but we have the same problems ( and a few new ones, nationally).

Last night I had a sort of post-holiday fuss. Not a meltdown or a fit, just a fuss. There are a few external things in my life that really annoy me, environmental issues if you will. I ranted for quite a few minutes, bemoaning these things. It didn’t change any of them. Who knew??
I woke up before dawn reviewing my litany of misery from the night before, and lay still for a while wondering how to address those issues with the resources that I have at hand. I can’t. I need new resources, which will take a little while to procure. But in the meantime, I realized that while I think I suffer, and I have, on some days, we all have, I don’t really suffer so much as I’m inconvenienced. I can live with that. :-) I’ll be bold and say that applies to most of us.

Suffering is living in a mud hut in Africa.

Suffering is watching out for enemies on a drive to work through Kabul, or on a helo over Afghanistan.

Suffering is having cancer and no medical care.

Suffering is watching your house burn down.

Suffering is losing a child to an accident or a spouse to a disease.

Suffering is being without hope, without comfort, without relief.

Suffering is living on mud cookies in Haiti, and then having an earthquake destroy your nation.

Suffering is watching your village swept away by a tsunami.

My friends and family reading this do not suffer much. Unless we have been faced with the death of a spouse or a child or a house fire, we mostly suffer from Major Inconveniences and Minor Ones.

Cancer is a Major Inconvenience. It takes over your body, and then your life for a time. If you have insurance it’s mostly a long-drawn out inconvenience. 


It is sometimes the death knell for end-stage victims, which cannot be misconstrued as an inconvenience by any means, for leaving this world involves suffering and pain. 


But for most cancer patients who get treated and recover, it’s a Major Inconvenience.

Most other things that we whine about after the holiday parties are over, the tree and the lights are stored, and the reality of the long winter faces us are minor inconveniences.  Long workdays, annoying relatives, difficult bosses, lines at the grocery store, bills in the mail are all minor inconveniences -- if we choose to be negative.

One can choose to look at a long work week and sigh, or one can be grateful for a job.

Many seek work and have little to live upon.

One can feel obligated and drawn upon, or one can be glad to have tasks to do and strength to do them.

Many live in solitude or with disabilities that keep them from doing much of anything.

One can check off a list of Things That Need to Be Done, or be glad to be free to do them in whatever order, and whenever, desired.

Many live under oppression, where they have no decisions to make.

It’s a New Year. I don’t suffer much. I have inconveniences that make me long for different circumstance, for sure, but that’s all they are. Inconveniences, and nothing that I can’t live with and strive to change.

"Life has a way of confusing us, blessing us and bruising us..."

Bruises heal, and they remind us to be careful. Look for the blessings in the inconveniences...