destruction & loss

I read a book recently that was essentially a story of destruction and loss.  After finishing, I've spent some time pondering the topic.  Destruction and loss raise the questions: Why do bad things happen?  If there is a God, why does He allow bad things to happen?  As humans, we all each ask ourselves this and each find an answer that satiates our hearts and minds.  I have my own theories, but that's besides the point.  Destruction and loss are facts of life... So how do we deal with them?

With any loss, you lose a piece of yourself or a way in which you used to see and experience the world.  After a loss, you are not the same person and you can never go back.  All you can do is move forward.  When we lose something precious, we tend to want to go back to 'the way things were.'  However, it's cowardly to want to go back.  The brave set fire to the old and continue moving forward.  This costs them great internal suffering, but it's the best way to move onward.  After any loss, it's almost as if a 'new you' is being born.  You can't walk anywhere with one foot stuck in the past.

We must see tragedy as a challenge, not a punishment.  We can decide how to face challenges.  We can only accept punishment.  Our lives are forged by our attitudes.  There are unavoidable things in life.  It's all about how we deal with them.  We have the power of choice.  As humans, we choose (not accept) our fate.  Even if we change how we face loss, it is still painful and that has to be acknowledged.  We can't get rid of the loss of pain, but we can take joy in things won.

The power of destruction comes with learning how to rebuild.  Sometimes it is the only thing that can awaken forces that lie dormant within us.  "Take advantage of the chance tragedy has given you; not everyone is able to do so." -The Fifth Mountain, Paulo Coelho