Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Nothing short of torture
After a power outage and other assorted delays, I’m back...with a sad tale to tell:
I know a 56-year-old man who died this week. In January of this year, he got up and went to work one morning. Nothing unusual about that...but, by mid-day, he was feeling confused: unable to understand the words in the newspaper. Long story short: He goes for some tests, discovers he has a malignant brain tumor, and undergoes a massive, debilitating course of chemotherapy and radiation. His last six months on earth were nothing short of torture...and he often wished he was dead. The toll this has taken on his close-knit family is immeasurable.
Whenever I contemplate this situation (which is often), I keep coming back to this passage from One Minute Wisdom by Anthony de Mello:
To a disciple who begged for wisdom the Master said, “Try this out: Close your eyes and see yourself and every living being thrown off the top of a precipice. Each time you cling to something to stop yourself from falling, understand that it is falling too.” The disciple tried it out and never was the same again.
Copyright © 2005-2007 Mickey Z.
