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 was living 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 knocked it all on the head,  facing massive personal hurdles, loneliness, temptations, and the feeling it was all in vain, his words came back to me. Despite praying deeply, I knew instinctively that I needed to go back to church.

It's easy to register faults with organized 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.

Seeing my aunty, a much better paradigm of a practicing catholic than me, face major surgery, not to survive but to get my sister on the property ladder, I marvelled at her courage. She'd been floundering in the hospital for weeks and could've opted for palliative care, but she still strove to do good. Driven by the company, she kept in her spirit and a tacit understanding of what it means to be at one 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 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.