Dare to be aware
Recently I took out the DVD Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin. The film, starring Keira Knightly, was wonderfully done and, as usual after watching a film I particularly like, I decided to browse the extras.
Listening to the excerpt on the everyday dynamics of the Bennett family, I was surprised but mainly troubled to hear the Bennett daughters described as having ‘meaningless lives’.
Meaningless? Meaningless lives? What exactly constitutes a meaningless life I ask myself? And who has the right to point the finger and say ‘that life is meaningless?
Stupid question really. It appears the value of life has everything to do with money and a persons economic value to society. It has nothing to do with the content of your heart...
These poor Bennett girls had no inheritance, dowry, career or income to speak of so were considered meaningless, worthless and perhaps even useless.
It is precisely this kind of thinking which makes this world a cold, cruel place to reside in. Everything is valued on a material level: the haves and the have nots.
We learn at a very young age to discriminate and judge by these warped standards.
We are never encouraged to explore the depths of a person’s spiritual existence, their feelings, fears, joys and sorrows. Instead we are encouraged to suppress these very humane emotions and concentrate our affinities on a very superficial level of existence; clothes, jobs, car, house, etc.
How boring. How meaningless.
I believe that a life, any life, that has one iota of compassion for itself or another life form is meaningful. This one iota can have a butterfly effect and change the lives of thousands. A heart that is open and willing to share is so much more meaningful than a closed heart with a bank account stuffed with money.
Born alone we will die alone, devoid of any material wealth we accumulate along our life’s journey. But in the last minutes of our death, before we move on, a heart full of love and compassion will prove to be a loyal companion, a friend to take with us and light the way with warmth and understanding.
Meaningless Lives
