Being a Human Being

Human being is more a verb than a noun. Each of us is unfinished, incomplete, a work in progress. Perhaps it would be beneficial to add the word "Yet" to our assessment of ourselves and of others. She has not learned compassion . . . yet. He knows nothing of courage . . . yet. It changes everything. If life is a process, all our judgements are provisional. We can't judge something until it's over. No one has won or lost until the race is over.

In our instinctive attachments, our fear of change, and our desire for certainty and permanence, we may undercut the impermanence which is our greatest strength, our fundamental identity, recognized or not. The nature of life is change. All hope is based on that process.

A dandelion first appears as a clump of green leaves. After a time a bright yellow flower will top a stalk rising from the center. The white puff-ball that children (of all ages) delight in blowing to the breeze is another part of the process of being a dandelion. And what of the root that continues to grow beneath the surface? It is all a part of a process, a cycle as old as time. Nothing is forever, but change.