prose

The Choice

When someone has a deep and profound love of life, their every action, motion and thought will be an expression of that. This quality of being engenders a rich and innocent wonder, like the wonder of a child presented with an intricately bejeweled and shimmering toy. The life of which I speak is that great mystery known only to a degree permitted by the meeting of one and that which they recognize as their Creator.

In a vast and empty void we sit, a singular consciousness. With that consciousness, which is us, there is only one thing to occupy the eternal expanse of nothing. Just us and one glittering gift. That vast expanse is being, and the gift — life. If we do not engage, revel in and enjoy the gift with the whole of our consciousness, we are left with nothing. In that there is a choice.

This choice is with us every day of our lives. Whether we are alone, or with many, rich or poor, well or in ill health, whole or broken... as long as we are aware, we have one thing always, the choice.

When I look at the world, and more importantly — the people in it, I am compelled to advocate for this choice.

In our day-to-day lives, is often easy to neglect to be aware or conscious of this choice. We go about that which seems obvious, forgetting it is what we have chosen and that it serves to enlighten and entertain us. Instead we find ourselves so often feeling pinned down and in-service to that which seems obvious. But there is a special circumstance which can arise.

We can lose everything, or seem to lose everything. A catastrophic injury viewed from this perspective becomes a tremendous opportunity. With the ordinary gone, eliminated entirely from one's life as is the case with severe spinal injury, we are left again with a blank slate and The Choice.