Sock Free Hideaway

BEATS OF LOVE 

143. Tu Amor by Mamacita

I RECALL my old pal Aidan saying to me in the mid-nineties 'we're on our own in this world.' I felt sorry for him as I lived with my kid sister and felt close to a clubbing community. 

I would never have dreamt of saying such a thing. Unsurprisingly, when my sister moved on and I ditched the old lifestyle, facing massive personal hurdles; loneliness, temptations, and the feeling it was all in vain, his words resonated. Though I prayed deeply, instinct told me to go back to church.

It's easy to register faults with organised religion, and it still tests my faith for sure, but by going back to church, I've become much more like the person I want to be. Now, every day when I wake and every night before I sleep, I talk to God in prayer. I'm far from on my own in this world.

I marvelled at my aunt’s courage as she faced major surgery. She was a true practicing Catholic, far better than me, making an ultimate sacrifice: undergoing an operation not to survive, but to get my sister onto the property ladder. After weeks of failing health in the hospital, she could have chosen palliative care. Instead, she strove to act. She was driven by the divine company she kept in her spirit, guided by a quiet understanding of what it means to be at peace with the world.

With or without God, it appears we've replaced that giving generation with a taking one. One with inherent greed and a sense of entitlement at its core. Unforgiving natures have replaced mercy, selfishness has replaced selflessness, fear has replaced courage, a confusion has replaced assurance, hallucination has replaced faith, and saddest of all, a sense of being on our own in this world has replaced what it means to be at one with each other. 

It needs restating 'we are not on our own in this world.' And restating again, I fear.