Leap forward five hours in time and you will come across the shores of Ireland. On this day, St. Patrick is said to have driven the snakes out of Ireland. On this day, Ireland is celebrating the feast day of its patron saint. From the Cliffs of Mohr to the shores of County Galway, the country is enjoying a day of celebrating with loved ones and neighbors. While we as Americans dye rivers green and our beer green too, the people of Ireland need only go out into a field and see the green laid out before them. I am so proud to call myself Irish. On this day, my blood runs green. So I begin this post saying, "Happy St. Patrick's Day!"
I mentioned briefly last night about the parade my fiance and I and his son attended. I also told you that the topic of today's post had three legs....did anyone figure it out?
Let's see....
Yesterday, in the Raleigh parade for St. Patrick's Day, there were several animal rescue groups dedicated to certain breeds of dogs. There were the Irish wolfhounds (my favorite, I want one of those gentle giants!), greyhounds, German shepherds, pit bulls and much, much more! In a few of the groups, I noticed a dog that made my think. These dogs had three legs! Now I am certain you have all heard stories. An animal loses the use of its limb and adapts its lifestyle accordingly. I remember watching one little kitten who was born with deformed back legs, both of them. This little kitten got around by, literally, picking its hind legs off the ground into a hand-stand and walking that way! I have seen dogs with two legs, both of them on the same side of the body, and the dog is still able to run and play. He stands up by leaning against a tree, for example.
How is it that these animals do not realize their limb is gone? Whenever we, as people, lose the use of a limb, whether temporarily or permanently, we mourn for a little bit. We are slow to adapt but quick to mourn. I began to think about our ability to adapt in other aspects of our life. When we suffer a loss, how can we adapt to a point where it is like it never happened at all?
When we lose a loved one, we are force to handle the death through the funeral and spending time with the surviving family. It still takes time to recover from a loss such as this, to begin moving forward again. But what about other losses? We have to adapt to change in our life, no matter what aspect. But I think we have to also remember what we lost. Unlike animals forgetting they had the limb, any piece of us that we lose, we have to remember it was once there. We learn from loss. If you lose a friend, you learn how to better keep the next one. When we lose a little bit of faith, we have to learn how to get it back and keep it. We can learn a lot from animals but have to remember what makes us human as well. Loss is painful and can cause us a lot of strive in our life. But loss is also the way we grow as people. When large losses occur in the world, such as the Holocaust, we are more hard pressed to prevent something like that from happening ever again. It causes social change in the world and society, as well as the immortality of that loss.
Loss cannot be ignored, although we try to. I believe our mourning to be the process of trying to forget when we really should be embracing the loss and learning from it. I know it is hard. I have gone down this path several times, in several ways. Although I try to forget the loss, I eventually come to realize that it can help me move forward.
I hope everyone enjoys their St. Patrick's Day. Please be safe. Don't drink and drive. Most importantly, enjoy and embrace everyone around you. You never know when you might experience a loss but it is better to enjoy the time you have rather than stew on the potential future. Until then, enjoy St. Patrick's Day. Here, it is gloomy and rainy, fitting for an Irish celebration, and the best kind of sunscreen! Please enjoy a thing called, "La Vie."
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