Vunerability

 

We were born this way, vulnerable.

We had no way of knowing then,

the needs and dangers life would bring.

Vulnerable yet fortunate were so

many of us born into this world with

responsible parents or caretakers.

As we grew we learned what we needed 

to do to survive and became able to fend

off and maintain ourselves in appropriate

and fundamental ways.

Still, we needed the help of others

and good fortune to maintain. Good

medical care, social assistance,

educators, clergy and a wide variety

of professionals and family to assist

and support us and our needs.

Yet, whether aware or unmindful of

many inadequacies and difficulties

throughout our lives, we remained

vulnerable.

Accidents, disease, natural calamities,

war, crime, personal losses, old age and

disabilities, there are myriad misfortunes

which may account for our vulnerability.

Consider the recent earthquake which

killed to date nearly 50,000 unsuspecting

victims in Turkey and Syria. Like the mass

extinction event which did in the dinosaurs

millions of years ago,  no one saw the

asteroid coming.

As Mark Twain once said when accounting

for the passing of other authors of his time

“...and I’m not feeling so well myself.”

Whether aware of it or not, vulnerability.

You’re never too young or old to play the

ubiquitous dodgeball game of a lifetime.

                            -30-

Chris Hanch 2-22-23