As God fills the whole universe, situations fill our entire life while we play different roles — as student, employee, son, daughter, spouse, parent, citizen and so on. In short we are born in situations, pass our time in situations and end our days in situations.
But when the road of life is rough, with unfavourable situations, and the going is tough, we should courageously take action to find a solution to our difficult problems; because life is not to stand still or static with disappointment and defeat but do something with opportunities. Everyone has infinite possibilities within oneself. So, with thoughts of self-help one should prepare a plan of action. There is no guarantee that whatever ‘action that we take will lead to success but without action there is no success’.
That is what Helen Keller did, when an illness robbed her of sight, speech and hearing. Helen was miserable until a teacher helped her to dispel the gloom. Young Helen started to attend a school where she learnt Braille. We may not all face huge sufferings such as those that Helen Keller conquered; but it could range from minor mishaps to traumatic tragedies; or even daily struggle and stress. In any case, whether or not there is light at the end of the tunnel, one has first to deal with the darkness.
Politicians think of ground-breaking solutions when faced with adverse situations when their party does not win majority votes. They manage to gain support from other parties to form a government. Thus they take appropriate action to suit them. Men also create situations which they themselves cannot tackle.
This is what was projected by Mary Shelley through the character, Frankenstein. Many say that men are on the way to create such complex situations by destroying ecosystems: – which bring about, global warming, green house effect, rising of sea levels due to melting of the glaciers which will flood coastal cities, killing millions of people. All this will bring about climatic changes so much so that it will not be able to sustain any growth and man will be threatened by such situations they create. This may sound like an exaggeration but we’re well on our way to our own destruction, slowly and surely.
But many think that everything passes away like the waxing and waning of the moon. They say one day one may face misfortune; another day fortune may smile on the same individual. But situation does not always turn from bad to good; circumstances could also go from bad to worse. We should ‘not wait for the storm to pass but learn to dance in the rain.’
In conclusion, I say that in general, situations pass away as they are not permanent and some situation can be conquered by taking courageous steps and create a new life. But there are some, especially those of terminal illness, which are not within our control. We have to surrender all situations to God, especially those which are fatal, as God knows the best, for all of us. We have to pray the serenity prayer of St Francis of Assisi: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
