Life is fleeting, our consequential legacies endure.
Plum, cherry--close kin.
Blossoms celebrated, fruits
consumed. What's next?
and yet, they're just flowers... why would it matter if they're going to bloom again after a few seasons?
The only answer I can think of is that they bloom because something or someone needs or cares about their presence. Bees will rely on them for food, the trees co-evolved with pollinators and consumers to yield fruit.
Similarly, when considering life with the same question I wonder: why would it matter to look that far forward when something or some other generation will have its place? Why when some people won't live for that long anyhow based on the current trajectory of their lives?
I wonder because those are the same questions I ask myself. I'm hoping one answer comes from acknowledging sobering facts about how other people chose to live or die, and if they didn't get to choose, at least how they hoped to.
Some people died believing that their work and death would help provide others a better chance at testing their gifts in the world without premature threats to life.
Some people come from communities where their friends died before finding a chance to make it past their neighborhood block before turning 28, 27, 24, 23, 21, or even reaching "adulthood" at 18.
I know some of those people. They're the person who I could sit next to at lunch during high school before he'd get killed in Afghanistan four years later as a Corporal in the US Marine Corps. They're my friend who was the first to leave his neighborhood in the western reaches of Detroit, first to graduate high school, and then earn his college degree while several of his friends and family got shot or incarcerated along the way.
I see some of my privileges, one of them is living. Even when it's hard to go about living, knowing that others care about life puts any effort into perspective. However, I wish people didn't have to rely on the deaths of others to grasp compelling reasons for living.
The cherry blossom's petals fall at the peak of their splendor. In somber interpretations, the cherry blossom stands as metaphor for life. But it will only matter if someone or something finds it and might care enough to make sense of it. It's part of a bigger community than itself.
Life is fleeting, our consequential legacies endure. Whatever the ethical decisions and religious frameworks you choose to take up, keep it in mind, then let it run its course.
...
Side notes & snippets I recently wrote elsewhere:
I think it helps to consider the symbolism behind cherry blossoms and their significance to Japan too--some sombering interpretations look at them as a symbol for life and inevitable death--samurai often held it in close regard as a way to examine and make sense of their own lives and work. Where a choosing worthwhile reasons to die. Celebrate its presence, know that it in itself does not last. Life is fleeting, the consequential legacies of a life endure.
It's worth noting the amount of coverage on suicide suddenly appeared in one day from rather different media streams:
Further discussion on mental health and suicides in the business world:
http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/how-to-survive-your-darkest-days.html?cid=sf01002
Subtleties among people who at first glance seem well:
http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/12833146/instagram-account-university-pennsylvania-runner-showed-only-part-story
Suicides in the Lakota nation
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/11/opinion/suicides-on-an-indian-reservation.html
Support exists, even alternatives to the prevailing mental health system. There's a lot of nuance but send me a message and I'll do my best to further share my thoughts.
Many people staffing the hotlines are also capable and willing to help you in figuring out next steps or getting into better situations:
http://greatist.com/grow/resources-when-you-can-not-afford-therapy
 |
| (plum blossoms-close relatives to the cherry) |
Plum, cherry--close kin.
Blossoms celebrated, fruits
consumed. What's next?
and yet, they're just flowers... why would it matter if they're going to bloom again after a few seasons?
The only answer I can think of is that they bloom because something or someone needs or cares about their presence. Bees will rely on them for food, the trees co-evolved with pollinators and consumers to yield fruit.
Similarly, when considering life with the same question I wonder: why would it matter to look that far forward when something or some other generation will have its place? Why when some people won't live for that long anyhow based on the current trajectory of their lives?
I wonder because those are the same questions I ask myself. I'm hoping one answer comes from acknowledging sobering facts about how other people chose to live or die, and if they didn't get to choose, at least how they hoped to.
Some people died believing that their work and death would help provide others a better chance at testing their gifts in the world without premature threats to life.
Some people come from communities where their friends died before finding a chance to make it past their neighborhood block before turning 28, 27, 24, 23, 21, or even reaching "adulthood" at 18.
I know some of those people. They're the person who I could sit next to at lunch during high school before he'd get killed in Afghanistan four years later as a Corporal in the US Marine Corps. They're my friend who was the first to leave his neighborhood in the western reaches of Detroit, first to graduate high school, and then earn his college degree while several of his friends and family got shot or incarcerated along the way.
I see some of my privileges, one of them is living. Even when it's hard to go about living, knowing that others care about life puts any effort into perspective. However, I wish people didn't have to rely on the deaths of others to grasp compelling reasons for living.
The cherry blossom's petals fall at the peak of their splendor. In somber interpretations, the cherry blossom stands as metaphor for life. But it will only matter if someone or something finds it and might care enough to make sense of it. It's part of a bigger community than itself.
Life is fleeting, our consequential legacies endure. Whatever the ethical decisions and religious frameworks you choose to take up, keep it in mind, then let it run its course.
...
Side notes & snippets I recently wrote elsewhere:
I think it helps to consider the symbolism behind cherry blossoms and their significance to Japan too--some sombering interpretations look at them as a symbol for life and inevitable death--samurai often held it in close regard as a way to examine and make sense of their own lives and work. Where a choosing worthwhile reasons to die. Celebrate its presence, know that it in itself does not last. Life is fleeting, the consequential legacies of a life endure.
It's worth noting the amount of coverage on suicide suddenly appeared in one day from rather different media streams:
Further discussion on mental health and suicides in the business world:
http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/how-to-survive-your-darkest-days.html?cid=sf01002
Subtleties among people who at first glance seem well:
http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/12833146/instagram-account-university-pennsylvania-runner-showed-only-part-story
Suicides in the Lakota nation
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/11/opinion/suicides-on-an-indian-reservation.html
Support exists, even alternatives to the prevailing mental health system. There's a lot of nuance but send me a message and I'll do my best to further share my thoughts.
Many people staffing the hotlines are also capable and willing to help you in figuring out next steps or getting into better situations:
http://greatist.com/grow/resources-when-you-can-not-afford-therapy
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