No life claiming to be worthwhile has not endured any amount of sacrifice. History tells us that sacrifice is an act of noble cause. In the ancient civilizations it is in order to please the gods that they roast human beings or cut their hearts out, dancing and yelling in praise, hoping these would placate their gods' anger and give them the rain for sustenance. In the modern society, however, where human sacrifices are an outrage, man's world view has become so complex that each time, at the major turning points in our lives we have to make sacrifices of a different kind. We can no longer turn at other people to mutilate with impunity in order to please our God and make everything better for us, so we must find someone else who might not take offense-- ourselves. In order to get that job, we sacrifice our leisure time and work hard. In order to get that coveted grade, we deprive ourselves of sleep. For us to provide for our family, we must bear the pain of loneliness in a strange land away from them. Because we truly love a person, we let them go where their happiness takes them, even at the expense of our own.
It is an integral part of the human condition that one must endure the pain of prioritizing. The thing that matters most is the one that can cause all the pain against everything else. Yet this is not a reason to despair. Since time immemorial, sacrifices for our utmost priorities serve a great objective. The ancient had their rains, we too, will have what we have longed for. After all, Michelangelo went blind after painting his magnificent work at the Sistine chapel. He may have lost his vision, but the beauty of his work-- a masterpiece of sacrifice-- reveals beyond sight.
Photo by Michael Vincent Mosquera
Photo by Michael Vincent Mosquera
[06.07.11]
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