The wonderful gift of life | By: Antonio Pérez Esclarin

By: Antonio Perez Esclarin ([e-mail])

Life is a gift that has been given to us out of pure love, but it is also a task and we should make it an exciting adventure. None of us could choose whether or not to be born, nor did we have the possibility of choosing our physical form, our size, the color of our eyes or hair, the texture of our skin, the level of our intelligence. Nor could we choose our parents, nor the country where we were born, nor the time or historical context. We were born in a certain cultural matrix that marks what we are and do, what we think and believe. We are children of a specific family and of a country that we must know, love and serve. We are unique and unrepeatable, an impossible miracle among miracles, and we must embrace life with an attitude of wonder, gratitude and humility.

With life we ​​receive many other gifts: the love of parents, siblings and other relatives, words, laughter, health, faith, education, birds, rivers, stars, mountains, flowers, everything that exists around us and makes life possible or makes it happy. In fact, and no matter how grateful or ungrateful we are, we are continually receiving gifts. From the moment we wake up in the morning, to the enormous gift that is sleep, we are receiving gifts: the air we breathe, the water that refreshes our bodies and makes life possible, the aroma and taste of coffee, the first greetings, the food we eat for breakfast that renews our life, the other people we meet, the clothes we wear… Have you ever thought about all the people who offered you their hands, their efforts and their work so that you can have a cup of coffee or put on, even if you do it unconsciously and perhaps with your face still sleepy from sleep, the pants, the dress or the shirt? Everything, certainly, is a gift. Hence the need to recover the capacity for wonder and begin to admire and be grateful for everything we are and everything we receive. Therefore, begin to value everything you are and have, everything you continually receive and show yourself grateful. Gratitude is a feeling that lifts our hearts.

In biology or science classes, we had to memorize the names of muscles and bones, the parts of the eye, the functioning of the circulatory or respiratory system. But they were not able to awaken the wonder before the incredible miracle of existence and life, which depends on thousands of very complicated and complex systems. Our body, each one of our bodies, regardless of its measurements, whether we are fat or thin, tall or short, whether we have a crooked or straight nose, wide or long, whether we are fair-haired, dark-skinned, curly-haired or bald, is the most extraordinary masterpiece, a marvelous, precise and efficient machine.

We were given life, without asking for it or deserving it, but it was not given to us ready-made. It is up to us to live our lives in a responsible and conscious way, to develop all our talents and reach the peak of our potential. Human beings are always unfinished beings, unfinished projects, who are capable of changing, of growing, of being ever more kind, more creative, more helpful. A few years ago, the French philosopher Roger Garaudy wrote that the most terrible thing that can happen to a person is to “feel finished,” to not understand that they always have the possibility of reinventing themselves, of improving, of living more deeply and fully. Every day is offered to us as an opportunity to serve, to create life, to love.

Unfortunately, today there are very few people who think about how to live and even fewer who know how to do it. Most people go through life without knowing where they are going, without understanding that failure or success does not depend on external agents, but on their own decisions.

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