There were so many lightning pics the other evening, that when I wrote the blog the following morning, I mainly focused on just finding the images where strikes were happening.
Sometimes you get overloaded with wonderful shots that beautiful shots still pale into insignificance and end up never seeing the light of day.
So, lunch time today I went back and took a look at some of the “ignored shots” and these were mainly shots where the lightning stayed in the sky and wasn’t immediately as obvious as her flashy cousins.
The notion that such beauty could inauspiciously come to rest on the editing floor bothered me and so I hope that you find even one here (end of blog) that was worth the showing. Enjoy!
Interesting enough, last night after watching a pretty hard documentary on a mental asylum for the criminally insane in France, it did affect my outlook on life and made me question my own significance.
After a recent relationship ended, I found myself questioning whether my life therefore had now lost its significance and were my best days in my past.
It’s quite impossible to really know the answer to that question, but to answer in affirmation would be akin to accepting defeat and I don’t really accept that approach to life.
So I woke up this morning, seeking significance in my life and committing myself to the belief that there are some good days ahead.
When I opened up the office door and was caught in a stampede of three cats and five kittens, I realized the good days are here and now.
There is nothing like the love of kittens to soothe a sore heart. Such boundless playfulness and innocence in abundance.
So, by the time everyone was fed and I sat at my desk, the issue of significance began to take on a deeper train of thought.
The word significance is derived from the Latin “significare” which translates to either “indicate” or “portend”. While we have relegated the former to a timid statement of what something is trying to show us, the latter still has much of the strength and feeling of danger as it originally had.
Portend is generally a warning of something momentous that is about to happen. So significance is therefore firmly tied to something momentous.
What happens in our lives that is momentous? And in particular, what is momentous as it applies to others?
Jackie Robinson once said “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” And I firmly agree with him.
So therefore ours significance is really related to how we impact those around us, those we love, and those we care for. Beyond that our insignificance is irrelevant.
The whole world doesn’t need to know us. But those we love need to feel that they are our whole world. If we do that, then our own significance is proven and our life has real meaning.
We need to stand in the way of a bullet for who we believe in, not what we believe in. Patriotism and martyrdom is gallant of course, but the lives left behind by those who follow that path are generally hurt and sometimes beyond repair.
So, living a life that considers our impact on others, and in particular those we love and care for (skin or fur) is a better choice.
We each lose our way at times and question our value in living. But the answer is in the eyes and hearts of those around us. That is where life’s value rests!
… just a thought.
