The tale of three bears

Life runs well until it doesn’t and yet it’s only when life isn’t going so well that we eventually come back to seeing the importance in the important things.

So much of life that we place a lot of importance in really isn’t that important.

Issues, divisions, jobs, disagreements, careers, possessions, goals, ambitions, plans.  To name just a few that pale into insignificance when we think about it.

Welcome to an image of three important bears.  The large yellow one, Michael, is 53 years old, the smaller one on Michael’s lap, Gentle, is about 11 years old, and the blue one, Jack, is just 7 years old.

These three bears have taught me about the important things in life.

Michael is my oldest possession, and he was around well before any of my first memories.  He was here before I realised I was.  Michael reminds me of the reason I’m here — my parents.  I still have them.  For how much longer I don’t know.  I often think of the day when they won’t be around — hopefully this is impetus to make sure I make the most of my time with them; not only quantity time but quality time and making their lives as much a joy as I can.

Gentle was given to me to help me.  To most people I’m a gentle kind of person, but as is the nature of our humanity, oftentimes our strengths herald salient fissures of fault.  As a husband and as a father, I haven’t always been as gentle as I should’ve been.  Gentle was given to me by my wife early on in our marriage to gently remind me of the importance of being gentle.

Finally, Jack is our son’s teddy bear.  My daughters had their teddy bears and doll’s houses and the like, but because they’re all adults and forging their own way now, it’s too easy to forget about their furry inanimate friends.  Jack is a very, very precious bear!  I can’t tell you the number of stories in the last seven years where Jack has been at the forefront.  Jack is basically another person in our family.  He is our son’s dearest possession.

The tale of three bears reveals an important truth — there are important things in all our lives that barely (pardon the pun) rate a mention.  Life passes us by when we get bogged down in the minutia of the less important things — those transitory things.

Life is in remembering how important it is to treat loved ones and all people well.  We don’t know how long we’ll get to keep our loved ones for.

It’s only when we arrive at an event like a funeral that we get a perspective of life that seems distant until it comes close.  And my experience is funerals sneak up like a thief in the night.

It is better to love well now than feel the sting of lingering regret later.