🇧🇷 🇺🇸

Life is the divine energy populating bodies; it is pure Love and Nature. Life is the peaceful existence of sentient beings.

Is it? Or should it be?

What is Life, after all? Is it what we get or is it what we do of what we get? Who owns life?

I have decided to go out for walking meditation and feel life. After a while I opened myself to the world surrounding me, and this is what I received:

“People are not disposable,” read a graffiti on the wall behind a man sleeping in filthy blankets, on a street named “Homeland Volunteers,” where lines of buildings on both sides stretched up to the sky like private pieces of heaven, hostile to that citizen and others curled up on the sidewalk, in front of every single bank and church.

“Who cares?”—was printed on a passerby’s t-shirt.

I mentally repeated the question and some blocks later was given an answer.

A man begged for money, showing three coins in his hand and talking about how breakfast is the most important meal because it kickstarts the day. He smiled with his empty mouth, and his two dogs wagged their tales while I handed him some money.

“They want to play!”

“Beautiful dogs. What are their names?”

“Life and Beethoven. Life ran away from me once. But I found her back, with the help of neighbors around here. She’s tough. But if you don’t watch her carefully, she might just slip away. She’s crazy. I love Life! But you cannot take her for granted. Every morning, as soon as my eyes are open I check and make sure Life is with me. You know, it’s all about knowing what really matters. You have got to look in her direction. Look into her eyes. I mean, look! Really! What do you see? Take care of that. What you see in the eyes of Life is treasure. And… You know? When I thought I have lost her, some people helped but it’s really on me. You get it? I’m accountable for whatever happens to Life; she’s my responsibility since the day I got her. Faith. I have faith… In Life. But then there are people who treat Life bad. My Life, you see? I might be in this condition but my Life does not belong to them. No it doesn’t. They might have money; I have Love. I have Life.”

“I hear ya!”—I had tears in my eyes.

“Now, check out both happy together! I don’t think Life would be happy without Beethoven! He’s quiet, relaxed, I mean, I love him too. Well, you know, Life is special. I was given Life as a gift. And when you are given a gift you take care of it. If it turns out to be hard, just do your best and you will succeed. Because… Seriously! When you take action, just the very fact of taking action is success. And, by the way, thanks for the smile. Not many people do that.”

As Elson and I shook hands Life and Beethoven jumped on me, and that question popped into my mind again: Who cares?

Elson and the neighbors do, Life and Beethoven, too.

People are not disposable; each one of us count. Whether presiding a country or sleeping under marquees, whatever color, ethnicity, sexuality or sex, one’s value is in the very fact that one exists. Every life matters. All lives are livable; all lives are grievable.

We should all care.

---

Read more here:
[Leia mais...]
Love Thoughts
&
Meditation