From Employment to Unemployment to Meaning — Ch. 13: My Legacy in Life Comportment Under Pressure
One of my closest friends has vitiligo. Her own body thinks her melanin is a disease and attacks it. This has caused a gradual, splotchy, emotionally and psychologically burdensome loss of her skin’s pigmentation over the years. To say that my friend has struggled with her self-image, with acceptance by self and others, and more, is to reduce the weight of the wars she has had to fight her entire life. To say that my friend is beautiful is to reduce the immeasurable magnitude of her attractiveness of person and character to a nine letter word that does not do her justice. My friend is one of the most amazing, strong, loving, generous, beautiful people walking this earth today. In her mere daily existence, my friend has given me grace and fortitude to bear my pressures. My friend has always given me unconditional love and acceptance — and telling me like it is when necessary — in the same way that our babies give to us in their earliest years. My friend is one of my most priceless treasures.
My friend has been fated with priceless gem status because she was fated with pressure equal to the weight and heat beyond that which forever exists within the earth’s crust. She was fated with pressure that turns boring, everyday rocks to color changing Alexandrite, Scarlet Emeralds, Kashmire Sapphires, Black Opals, Jadeite, or the Pink Star Diamonds and Burma Rubies.
So it is with the challenges that face us in life. We look for meaning in the pressure, but the very nature of pressure prevents us from seeing. We look for peace in the pressure, but the phenomenon of pressure is what changes us at the core. We look for joy in the pressure, but the pain of the pressure is what permits our joyous transformation.
Nothing comes without pressure. Whoever says otherwise… well, just don’t pay attention.
Today, I have — as many of us have — been transformed by the pressures of sick children, dissolved marriages, financial difficulties, academic studies (like chemistry and statistics), bad bosses, and crises or losses of one kind or another.
Today (Week 5, Day 4), I am thankful.
You see… What happens when we unearth the gems that are produced? We treasure them, display them, wear them with pride, own them for status, and admire them. We simply prize them, never thinking about the unbearable heat and pressures that formed them.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not looking to be displayed, worn with pride, given status, or be admired. I have never looked for these and I never will.
I’ve sought purpose and meaning and my seeking only continues. Every day, comes new vision; new revelation. Every day, I embrace, chart and seek.
Every day, we have to embrace our fears and chart new courses. Every day, we have to embrace fears and chart paths, despite the sheer-faced cliffs we suddenly have to climb because of some uncontrollable tectonic activity that moved our earth. Every day, we have to embrace fears and chart paths under the intense heat and pressures that have been layered upon us to endure. Every day we have to stand and shine, thankful for the pressures that are shaping us. Every day, we have to know that our transformation is in progress. Every day, we have to know that providential refinement is occurring, our dross is being removed and we are proverbially coming forth “purer than gold.”
In the end, it matters not whether we are more precious than yellow gold, white gold, pink gold, or any other gem. In the end, it matters not what financial treasures we bequest. In the end, only the journey matters, how we handled the journey, and the legacy in life comportment under pressure that we leave behind.
Have I always exhibited the most enduring, peaceful, joyous, fearless, stand tall and shine bright comportment?
No.
I am human.
But today and every day, I am creating my legacy in life comportment under pressure.
