The innate will

Humanity – a bizarrely concocted mix of goodness and revolting abomination that betters the angels of the heavens and belittles hell’s best demons. The greed of mankind for wealth and power really does know no bounds and he is more than willing to destroy his fellow beings just to have a few more pieces of silver on top of the 30 he has already grabbed.

And regardless of his profession of faith, there will always be some leeway to allow for “acceptable” margins of “working the system” to exploit and destroy his neighbor. God is a mere convenience or inconvenience – no more than a retort that lasts a few minutes of reverence.

The lives he destroys in his wake make’s the devil’s handiwork seem like child’s play. Indeed, there is no bigger evil than the very darkened heart of mankind. Truly, for when mankind is left to his own devices, he can and will utterly destroy humanity.

Nonetheless, for the trampled, the down-trodden of us, there is a silver-lining… and though at times it feels somewhat ridiculous, bordering onto lunacy, there is a still voice that resonates from the very depth of our weary, weakened and depressed souls.

The innate will to survive. A truly God-given will to stay alive despite “it all”, with or without reason. A mantra that goes : “in spite of everything, we must live”.

Having said that, living in today’s world is tiresome and loathsome. But perhaps this is due very much also to the culture of want and fulfillment that draws unrealistic expectations on ourselves to outshine and better the Jones. And at the end of it, the pressure built from such expectations either break or crush us.

However, here’s a quick lesson from the game of baseball which may help ease some of the burdens of self expectations.

For a batter to consistently hit 3 balls out of every 10 thrown in his career, his average chalks up .300, a somewhat “magic number” that separates great players from the rest. If he does .400, he is no longer human for he would be considered a deity.

In other words, don’t be too hard on yourself and just know that your life isn’t meant to be a 100% “success” as defined by TV, movies and billboards for if you’ve chalked up a 30% hit average return, you’ve already “made it” in life. A record to which you can proudly revert to your Creator when the time comes and that you’ve managed to live despite it all.