"All travel through life varies in e.
Thought for today:
"Yesterday, I attended hospital for another course of chemo for the day. Due to severe illness and one month's hospitalisation over the Christmas period, when a third cancer was found to be present in my body that required aggressive and immediate treatment, my chemo treatment could not be started until my body had got rid of some infections; and only then, after my body had been allowed to strengthen again before restarting on a modified course of treatment. I needed this treatment to continue urgently; not only because it would lead to my quick demise if it didn't, but also because it prevented me getting a pacemaker exchange; which had been postponed on three occasions due to illness, and which only had less than a month's life remaining before it and I packed our bags and stopped working all together! In short; I needed both cancer treatment to continue 'now' and my pacemaker to be exchanged by the 16th February 2017, a few days before it stopped working altogether!
Caught in a 'catch 22' situation where two opposing factions were each placing a pistol to my head as the fateful game of Russian Roulette was being played out, naturally I was disappointed upon seeing my doctor and being told that 'it was borderline if I was strong enough in body to receive the course of chemo planned for that day', and realising that he was on the verge of sending me home. I persuaded him that I wanted my treatment today and he again provided a modified program of treatment to go ahead. I was so pleased to get this, only to discover within the following five minutes, that the hospital computer system crashed for the first time in the hospital's history. No effective work or treatment could be carried that day upon anyone, in-patient or out-patient except the direst of life and death emergencies!
All the outpatients present for treatment that day were sent home and were told they'd be informed when to come back. Those coming later for their appointments were phoned by hospital staff telling them not to come to the hospital today. With both Russian Roulette guns pointed to each side of my head, 'I refused to go home.' I insisted that I'd stay, in the hope that the crashed computer system would be up and running sometime later in the afternoon and that some treatment could be given to some outpatients before the unit closed down at 10 pm that night. My persistence/resistance paid off and by 2.00 pm, the computer was restored to normal functioning. I eventually received my 7-hour course of treatment and went home a happy, yet tired bunny at 9.00 pm.
Days and events come together and happen to each of us for a purpose and remaining the person who you truly are is often the only way through them. I was pleased that the Forde stubbornness and dogged determination did not abandon my character yesterday. Now, hopefully, I will be able to get my vital heart pacemaker exchange on February 16th as planned, 'providing my platelet count is high enough.' If not; to cut into my skin to implant another pacemaker in exchange, with low platelets, during a chemo course period, will create an infection that would probably prove deadly, with no immune system to use in defensive healing. To help, I will go into hospital also on the 15th February to receive some platelet infusions during the day to boost my prospects of being able to go ahead with the pacemaker exchange the next day in the hospital.
From the moment we first enter this world, all that happens to us, by us and because of us, is no more than preparation for our one day leaving it. The pop song whose line asks, 'Should I come or should I go?' alas asks the wrong question as there is no definitive answer. You see, we 'come', so that we may 'go', and 'go' that we can come again. Be we Christian or Buddhist, the question and answer remain the same. Whether we exist in this world or the next, the passage of 'go' and 'come' enjoins both.
How best, therefore, should a good person spend their time and devote their finest efforts, one may ask? Which job/task should I do and prefer instead of leave to one side for a later date, if I want to help self as much as I can? I long ago learned that the best way of helping self long-term is to help others now! In my time, I have found that the two best ways of helping others are when we show them how to live and how to die. We do that by always remembering the path that leads us back to wholesomeness and peaceful places, and showing them the way, should they wish to follow. We provide an example by doing worthwhile things for both the present and the future. We show how to protect Nature and Nurture by doing things for the benefit of the future and for progress on earth we will never see while we live; by helping people we may never meet and by the planting of trees today whose shade we will never sit beneath.
Think upon these things a moment and concentrate your mind on remembered earth. Let the compass of confidence clear your path ahead. Even the world steps aside for those who know where they are going.
One of life's most unfortunate experiences is that we are conditioned to be afraid of freedom and often become too afraid to step out of our comfort zone into the uncontrolled unknown of another's world. I suppose that the best example of this can be found in our worse attitude and least benevolent thoughts of mass migration to our shores.There is too much earthly profit to be made from you by others keeping you dependent upon your fears, your greed, and any sense of insecurity you have. There is too much fear projected towards you, which, if you take on board, will prevent you exercising your freedoms. Customs and procedures are there for a purpose, but when they get in they way, it is better they be side-stepped or dumped overboard before the ship sinks!
How and where one stands on important matters is also crucial to character development and finding the soul of a situation. I have always believed that a good photograph is better achieved by the photographer knowing where best to stand. When we stand on the side of good and all that is true and wholesome and what we see is reflected in a mirror of justice, when we stand alongside all strangers and show them they are not alone, when we stand behind those whose bodies are too frail with hunger to stand at all and help to keep them upright, when we stand up for justice wherever it is found wanting and when we stand up for all our beliefs and hold hands with society's lepers; only then will our hand touch the hand of God and reach the soul of the humanity and mankind.
The prime reason that there are so many problems in our world and why we won't face up to our problems is simple; it is because we are the problem!
That is why any substantive change in the world will not come about until we recognise this uncomfortable truth and start to change ourselves; not our environments. If we can bring about such change in self, we can then make our next destination, not a place, but a way of looking at things differently; a way of seeing all the good things in life and people and the nature of the world that surrounds us.
People who cannot see the sunshine behind clouds will always seek a new day to find a better existence; especially those with unhappy pasts and unfulfilled presences. If only we could learn that the future is made up of precisely the same stuff as the past and the present, we would truly advance towards greater peace.
So enjoy your travel of life from your cradle to your grave, for it is there to be enjoyed. The secret to life is to marvel and enjoy the journey through it. Unfortunately, the only trouble with heaven is that few are prepared to die to get there. If you be such a person, let me tell you that you can also live a good life and still get there! Let me also tell you, that if like me yesterday, you find yourself down a hole, while it often pays to stop digging, it sometimes pays to stay there a few hours and pray, reflect, and review your prospects before climbing back out to face the uncertain future. Even a caterpillar today down a hole can be a beautiful butterfly tomorrow if they are only prepared to trust in the goodness of God and the day ahead, and are prepared to wait for tomorrow's change!" William Forde: February 2nd 2017.