The Urge to Stand - the Urge to Live

I remember a moment as a very young girl where I witnessed an important life lesson in progress. Of course at the time the message was quite lost on me as I was quite lost in a very special moment. A long time ago there was a little place called the Japanese Village and Deer Park in Buena Park, California. It was at this beautiful little park that I first came face to face with a little fawn and its first breath of life. The sunlight as I remember it was perfectly shining, with the beautiful Japanese manicured gardens and a wonderful cool breeze as a backdrop. My parents brought us there a few times and I recall it being a favorite of mine. I love the gentleness of the does and absolutely adored the little playful fawns. On one trip one little fawn was born right in front of me. I remember thinking how amazing it was and how cute it was.

My parents were a bit horrified but quickly explained something natur-ific and distracting that was their way and they went about their business. They didn’t see what I saw because they didn’t understand or fully appreciate the entirety of the beauty we had just witnessed. My focus went right back to the little fawn with my questions most immediately answered. Only moments after birth I was stunned that the little fawn on its long clumsy limbs was trying so hard to stand. It was amazing to me that urge to stand and that urge stuck with me in that moment all the way up until this present day. Throughout all of my days since then have I seen that very same urge to stand (or urge to live) in everything I have encountered here on our beautiful planet Earth.

At so many stages in the life of a human being after its initial physical birth is that human being then reborn over and over again as he or she learns something new, tests it out (tries to stand) and attempts to work meaning into their lives. Whenever we are knocked down by something it seems our first inclination is to stand again. There is always that urge to stand, that urge to live and that urge to prevail. It is innate to our being and nature. But that nature can be broken. And it is a sad and heart wrenching day to see it broken. When a human being loses its urge to stand and just gives up, it breaks my heart. I’ve seen that much in my life I suppose and it’s always been sad to me. I know that feeling of not wanting to get up after being knocked down one too many times. But, there is that little urge inside me that no matter how tired or frustrated I get, will not allow me to stay down and I will follow the urge to stand even if on broken seeming limbs some times because at some level I know that my life depends on it.

I think that urge to live is the spirit of the heart of all of us that knows that everything ultimately is going to be all right. Sometimes you may have to exercise a heck of a lot of patience to come to this realization but if you hold the faith it will come, it WILL come. I learned this lesson watching a beautiful gentle doe give birth to a beautiful little fawn nearly 50 years ago. That life lesson will never leave me and always will I try to share that knowledge and beauty with others – that urge to stand no matter what is the beautiful part of our being and should be embraced. The part of us that sometimes wants to give up is also a beautiful part of our being and just needs to be better accepted and understood. Never lose your urge to rise or to live.
 
Life is infinitely beautiful if you can find a way, even if a very small way to see it. If you try and it all still seems dark – find yourself someone who can see to help you look for it. You’ll then find again that resident urge and it’s beauty, strength and wonder will have you rising to face the amazing wonder that truly is your life. Blessings.

© 2015 Jaie Hart (photos of the Deer Park copy right unknown).