DAY 79 – THE ROLES YOU HAVE TO PLAY IN LIFE

I am an actor in a four part play waiting for the curtain to go up. The first act has me as the main character in a biography about my own life. The second act has me at a barbeque with four generations of relatives ranging in age from two to ninety-two showing how each relative plays a role in one another’s life. The third act has me cooking breakfast when an earthquake strikes my town. The final act has me driving my family for a picnic and swimming to a lake.

THE ROLE YOU HAVE TO PLAY IN YOUR OWN LIFE: YOU SERIOUSLY NEED THE BEST OF YOURSELF

The main character in a play has a responsibility to perform at his or her best. Actors who go on a stage without knowing the lines will just bumble along. Without specific lines that depicts the objectives and direction of the play it can wander off in any number of tangent paths. What then happens to the main character is not what the author originally intended.

Every human being is the author and the main character in their own real life play each and every day. There is a script that is constantly being written and while we may have an idea of what to expect there is no way to know beforehand what the dialogue will be nor what events will transpire when we wake up in the morning. What we hope for every day is that life goes smoothly and does not present us with problems that we do not want to have.

Every person has a responsibility to perform at his or her best. While actors hope for a role of a lifetime they have the luxury of moving from role to role until they get what they believe will be their ultimate casting. Each of us, on the other hand, does not have the luxury of waiting for some great role that lies sometime in the future. We are living our real lives in the here and now.

Bumbling along in life is not an option for anyone. Hoping and wishing for a better life by itself will not make it happen. The more insightful knowledge and beneficial actions I engage in the better my life becomes. I now realize that I have a responsibility to myself to create a better life for myself.

THE ROLE YOU HAVE TO PLAY IN YOUR FAMILY’S LIFE: YOUR FAMILY SERIOUSLY NEEDS THE BEST OF YOURSELF

In the second act of this play I am at our annual summertime family picnic at my grandparent’s home. Most of the time our family gatherings are joyful and peaceful. Once in a while two relatives find themselves embroiled in a heated argument that creates a lot of tension between them and makes everyone there uncomfortable.

Every family member is intertwined with one another that has far ranging implications. The behavior of any one person in a family setting can be the difference between a chaotic household and chaotic family gatherings that creates stress for everyone or a peaceful environment that is life enhancing for every single person.

So much of what each of us center our thoughts around is family. We grow up with parents and siblings. We have grandparents and grandchildren that we often spend time with. We have aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, cousins and in-laws that are part of our familial relationship. Having this part of one’s life go well requires a stable foundation that a person can rely upon for the rest of his or her life.

The closer you are to someone the more they count on you. They count on you to be there in their time of need. They count on you to help them through the difficult situations they may face by just listening to what they have to say. They count on you for providing insightful and sound counsel that gives them a way forward when life seems out of control. They count on you to be a friend who just goes out of your way to lend a helping hand even for the most minor of tasks. Reaching out to relatives, no matter how far away they may be, to let them know that they are cared about is so important.

Every person in a family can inspire their relatives to greater heights. Every person can encourage the people they love to follow a path in life they find rewarding. Every person can help one another to build a solid foundation upon which to live their life. I now realize that my role within my family can be a force to uplift one another in ways that other interactions and relationships do not do.

THE ROLE YOU HAVE TO PLAY IN YOUR COMMUNITY: YOUR COMMUNITY SERIOUSLY NEEDS THE BEST OF YOURSELF

In the third act I am cooking breakfast when my house starts to shake. Neighborhood alarms go off and I go outside to find out what just happened. My next door neighbor tells me that our town was hit with a small earthquake. He says that while our homes had little damage, he got a call from a friend who lives on the other side of town and homes there were badly damaged or completely destroyed.

I decided to try and get to the other side of town and see how I could help the people living there. When I arrived across town I could not believe what had just happened. House after house had been partially or completely devastated. Right away I could see that many people who lived there had lost their homes. While I could not make their homes whole again I offered them assistance in any way that I could.

At some point in time every human being needs some help from the people living near them. Children in school who are not doing well need tutoring that goes beyond the teachers and parents they have. New parents and parents who are having difficulty raising their children need the knowledge and insights of others that can make a significant difference in the lives of their children. Those who are having difficulties in their relationships or are prone to verbal and violent outbursts need someone to talk to them about how to peacefully resolve any differences and live in harmony with the people they care about. People who are sick or have a severe illness may need someone to help them with everyday tasks. The homeless, hungry and those living on the edge of despair need people right where they live that can help uplift them out of their situation in order to achieve the same better life that everyone else desires.

In every community there are people who have problematic events and situations that they and the people who love them have difficulty resolving. Helping your fellow community members prevent problematic situations from occurring and helping them to expeditiously resolve an existing difficulty is what a better life philosophy is all about. Being a community citizen in your own town and in the region in which you live can be so impactful that it can completely change the lives of your neighbors.

While many people today have busy and hectic lives all of us should try to find some time to come to the aid of those who live nearby. Giving your time can often do more good than donating money because it can give the recipient of that gesture a sense that they are not alone in this world in their battle to have fewer difficulties and a peaceful and harmonious life. Such benevolent actions have an added psychological effect of saying that there are good, decent and kind people living right in our midst that care about the welfare of others. I now realize that being a good neighbor not only means people contribute some of their time to helping those who live near them but it also has the added benefit of creating a bond between human beings that brings people and entire communities closer together.

THE ROLE YOU HAVE TO PLAY WITH THE EARTH: THE EARTH SERIOUSLY NEEDS THE BEST OF YOURSELF

In the final act of this play I am taking my family for a swim and picnic at a lake that my parents took me to when I was a young boy. For years I had told my spouse and children what a good time I had going there with my parents. Since it takes a twelve hour drive to get to this lake it has been difficult to go there with my family until today.

When we arrived at the entrance of the lake there was a sign that read DO NOT SWIM: POLLUTED WATER. We decided to go to the parking lot and still have a picnic on the beach. What we saw was so disheartening. The beach was littered with garbage and it was impossible to sit on the beach and just enjoy the view of the lake.

This unusable polluted lake and an unusable littered filled beach is not unusual in many places around the planet. Human beings discharge pollutants and dispose of litter that not only prevents us from enjoying the magnificent splendor of the earth but also causes great harm to how the earth functions for the benefit of all life in those locales.

The people who are inconsiderate towards the earth and dispose of anything and everything anywhere they want is no different than a two year old who just leaves the toys he or she is playing with on the floor for their parents to put away. Young children do not have the capability to see past the immediate moment. What makes discharging pollutants and leaving litter so much worse is that the people who do this understand what they are doing and just do not care about the ramifications of their actions.

After finding a scenic spot to have lunch we drove home. The long ride back gave us plenty of time to talk about what causes people to be so inconsiderate towards the earth. I and my family now realize that every human being has a responsibility to keep the earth as clean and sustainable as he or she can.