Don't look away.

When life starts to crowd in, some step up, others push back. Sometimes life calls us to fight for the things we believe in, hurling sometimes seeminly insurmountable challenges in our way. But sometimes, it might not be enough to merely believe in the ideal, or fight the good fight, or to rage against the machine.

Thing is, so very often when we are challenged, we react. We believe in things so much that we let ourselves be clouded by those beliefs. We don’t think, and sometimes we forget the substance of what those beliefs really are about.

I just heard a beautiful song. A mere half-verse of lyrics, ten seconds of song. And it stirred something inside. A need to believe. But deeper than that sense of wanting to believe, but to know what those beliefs really mean. The source and substance of those deep-set convictions in my life. The things that I fight for, the people and ideals that I fight for. To know and feel and understand their heft, their weight. To understand why I do the things I do, fear the things I fear, say the things I say.

To understand, to use reason in the place of (possibly) blind fervent passion. To become, as it were, greater than the sum of those factors and beliefs which shape one’s life. To love, to laugh, to sing. To feel the sun on your face, to feel the wind in your hair, to feel the gentle soft touch of the hand holding yours. To know. And to be.