What You Will Have To Be Strong Enough to Live With
I never wanted to be Hercules
I got the idea for titling this story from my current favorite program, World On Fire. It’s on PBS and is a story about WWII in Europe. The program premiered in 2020 and I was instantly hooked. Just as it was wrapping its first season COVID struck with a vengeance and filming new episodes was considerably delayed. The long-awaited second season finally premiered a few months ago.
In one episode the two main female characters are having a potentially life-altering conversation. One of the women confides to the other she is considering abandoning her infant daughter. The other woman responds to her with these words, “ What you will have to be strong enough to live with.”
I couldn’t imagine abandoning my child, although she didn’t mind abandoning me. The words that were spoken immediately caused me to think of how they applied to my circumstances. You know how stuff like that happens? You’ll be watching TV as I was, or engaged in some other activity that has you completely absorbed. Suddenly out of nowhere words are spoken, or a scene evolves that momentarily removes you from what had been holding your attention, and transports you back. Back to an event that was so profound and painful that you almost didn’t survive it.
