I grew up thinking that things should be achieved with effort and dedication. I learned in the past that merit and striving had an intrinsic capacity to add value to my actions. “If I do it with sacrifice, somehow it will be worth more.”
My Dad’s passion was photography, and his favorite subject matter was ugly courthouses, thunderclouds, scenic landscapes, and Art Deco architecture. Whenever we were on vacation he would always have two cameras hanging around his neck.
World peace? A new era of cooperation among all nations? The eradication of poverty? Millions of us have had such hopes and aspirations only to be pulled back to “reality” on hearing the latest news of ongoing warfare, souring relations between countries, or the rise in homelessness and poverty.
I’d bet more than a few of you remember The Great Recession. It had been a rough couple of years before we even landed there. My dad’s health started to decline in 2006. At the same time, my pregnant daughter had moved home.
When a piece of charcoal burns, what is around it will also ignite, but only if it has the right composition. If what surrounds a glowing coal is made of wood, paper or phosphorus, it will certainly catch the flames.