MONDAY MUSE (11 January 2010)
DEAD OR ALIVE
Yesterday, at a youth leadership development workshop organised by Goa
Sudharop, the Chief Guest, Fr Maverick Fernandes was at his innovative best.
Instead of speaking from the podium, he walked to the whiteboard and wrote
about a person born in 1976, dead in 2000 and buried in 2006. Then he asked the
young participants about whether such a situation was plausible.
The interaction that followed threw up many suggestions. Some opined
about a possible delay in finding the body after death. Others imagined that
there was some sort of dispute over the dead body. Fr Maverick led the
discussion to consider that the death was actually referring to a disconnect
with real living by the person. A situation where the person was technically
existing but not living in the real sense!
We need to ask ourselves the questions that Fr Maverick queried of his
listeners... Are we akin to such a person whose living purpose is only to
exist? Is there meaning and purpose in our lives? Does our existence mean
anything for the world that we live in? Are we dead or alive to the challenges
that loom beyond our existential needs?
So easily we insulate ourselves from being alive and responsive to
the situation that surrounds us. So often we are dead before a real death. So
often we bury our heads in our comfort zones and ignore the real reality out
there. Let’s be better at choosing to be alive and proactively responsive to
every challenge that comes with life.
To every trial that comes with being...
Let’s BE BETTER at responsive living!
- Pravin K. Sabnis
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