it is life

Over the weekend we threw a surprise party for my sister who is moving out of state. Old family friends gathered around an impressive display of baked ziti. As I was talking to my Aunts and Uncles I began thinking of things in their lives that had brought them to this point. Every single one of them has done different things, been involved in different groups, lived different lives. But everyone of them is here. Most of our group of friends here is KC came out a church/cult that was controlling and demeaning and manipulative. We have all been out for about 10 years. In those 10 years we have all learned to think for ourselves, decide what is to be controlled and what is not, and how to spot manipulation a mile away and most importantly how to live life in a good healthy way and how to enjoy it.

While I was working at my little shop yesterday I was looking around at the people filing through. Some in their 50's have learned fewer lessons on life than some of my customers in their 20's, and they have no idea. Some of these older and supposedly wiser people are in fact being controlled manipulated and toyed with and are completely clueless or actually happy to be so.

I was listening to a conversation between two and was struck with the observation that these two thought they were going to save the world, when in fact they were barely capable of showing in the morning let alone running their households full of children. (Which bring another question to mind, why is it that when some hippie who wants to save the world decides the first thing to do to go about it is to stop showering and wear patchouli oil?)

I find it amazing and fascinating to see how people's life pattern is woven, which lessons they learn, which they do not, how people can go through life being dictated to and how some people host their own revolution to get out from under the thumb of society, how some people are happy with what is handed them and how some take what is handed them and use it to improve their future. I am amazed how two people can watch the same film and be struck in two entirely different ways as dictated by their life's experiences. I am surprised that people so often and so willingly allow people to rule over them in the smallest of ways. I often wonder where I will be in 10, 20, 30 years? How will I have changed? What lessons will I have learned? Which lessons will I be oblivious to? And what will I still be learning?

If you were to ask my 20 year old father where he thought life would lead him, I could guarantee he would not guess rightly.