Building on the Landfill

Earlier today this writer was reminded of an unpleasant occurrence of about 39 years ago.  While the event itself was short-lived, it's effects are ongoing, even today.  The reminder of The Thing brought to mind that we are products of everything that has happened in our lives up to the moment in which we take our most recent breath.  See?  It just happened again.  What? you might ask.  Well, you just took another breath, and in some tiny, microscopic, miniscule way, you are not the same as before; nor am I.  So? you think.  What's the point?  you persist.

Here, Reader, is the point.  It only takes a moment for tiny or dramatic shifts in our lives make them something other than what they were the moment before.  In our little lives, things happen -- good, bad and indifferent.  The good things help to keep us going:  nurturing our minds, bodies and spirits -- encouraging us to try again, to keep going, to not give up -- instilling within us hope for the future -- growing our faith -- catalyzing our ambitions -- deepening our determination.  The bad things sometimes serve us similarly, if we can look past the badness to whatever good there is to be gleaned from such as The Thing.  Or, the bad things can deter us from being all that was intended by our creation.  The indifferent things are -- well -- indifferent.  They neither lend to nor take away from whatever; however, they can be useful fodder for one's landfill without causing additional odorous memories like The Bad.

So what's this landfill thing?  The landfill is the stuff -- the good, bad and indifferent.  It starts as a little whole in the ground.  Over time it may get deeper, wider, or higher depending on the need for space to house the stuff that makes one, well, oneself.  How one manages the landfill may determine how one manages the present.  We can either let it be an unsightly mess with little fragments strewn about in intermittent, untidy piles; or we can confine it to specific boundaries, keep it pressed down and compacted together.  

There is no profound statement here.  There is no endorsement of any landfill type.  There is, however, an understanding that one's landfill should somehow be managed to support modicums of peace and order in one's life.   Decide for yourself on what kind of landfill you will build the rest of your life.