Archive for July 31st, 2009
In Taking Risks, One Finds Meaning
These two guys were happy to have their picture taken while they hauled some rescued wood and scraps from some worksite to a buyer. It was strange, needless to say, to see this type of transportation being used while modern trucks, cars and buses whizzed by. Stranger, was the apparent level of happiness displayed by these two men. I took the photo in January, 2008 in ChangZhou, China about five kilometres from the apartment I lived in for two years.
These men are aware of their lives and see the contradictions in comparison to the lives of others in their neighbourhood. Rather than getting lost in envy, getting stuck in helplessness, they walk forward in shoes large enough for their tasks, their lives. They choose to live with a spirit of happiness rather than slip into darkness, helplessness, fear, and the realm of evil. It is obvious in looking at them that they are not living in fear, for fear would freeze them, shrink them
For the hero, fear is a challenge and a task, because only boldness can deliver from fear. And if the risk is not taken, the meaning of life is somehow violated, and the whole future is condemned to hopeless staleness, to a drab grey … (Carl Jung, CW 5, paragraph 551)
