By Georgie Bright Kunkel

Since we are learning every day, our concept of what makes life worth living is always broadening with new experiences. Recently I opened my e-mail and found a forwarded article which likened each new being to a pumpkin scooped out, taking out all the venom and bad things and carving in a big smile. I thought to myself that it isn’t that simple. Then as I began thinking about life and where each new being really comes from I visualized being a baby passenger of a space ship landing on the earth. The baby does not ask to come to earth and has no way of going back to the place of origin. A new baby cannot pick its own parents. How many children who are upset have remarked in anger, “I didn’t ask to be born.”

Although you can’t choose your own parents, a human being has choices. You learn, however, that you have no control over the aging process and that people eventually die. You learn that to offer love and trust can be a risk sometimes.

But you can learn to construct beliefs that help to ease the pain and uncertainty of making life choices.

Every human being is shaped by the people who come into each life along with the special makeup of one’s own being. Yes, humans help to shape other humans. Religious organizations, clubs and family structures all support the needs of human beings. Some believe that our time on earth is all there is and so they try to change things to make that life better.

Others may trust that whatever happens is fate and they bear everything because they think nothing can be changed.

Others put faith in some power outside of themselves and pray that this power will keep them safe.

There are many ways to face the challenges, sorrows, and hurts of this world. There are many ways to live the most fulfilling life possible. If we are not afraid of making mistakes, we can learn a lot about life and about ourselves. There is no one who hasn’t made mistakes. And what is a mistake anyway? It isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It is finding out what one can do well or finding out what one could improve on. But no one learns in a vacuum. Each individual in society is a member of a group, first the family group and then the school group and the working group. There is a constant adjustment to finding one’s individual way in the world and learning to fit into a group that provides comradeship and protection. Not only does each one of us think of ourselves as an individual with individual talents and interests but we look upon ourselves as belonging to a group—the family, a lodge, a church group or working group.

The balance of life is learning to be true to oneself and one’s own needs as well as learning the rules of belonging to family and other groups that give support and guidance. Humans who have distinct talent or intelligence refuse to be bound by outmoded patterns. They pave the way to new ways of living. Some of these innovators have paid a steep price for being honest in their newfound knowledge when the status quo will not accept innovation and change. But change happens in spite of static beliefs. What was considered unthinkable in one age becomes the norm for succeeding ages.

Humans are still scattered about the earth in various stages of health. It may take a worldwide effort to put the well being of all humans first and eliminate the greed that now exists. True equality and not piecemeal handouts and charity is the answer. Each succeeding generation must balance the need for individual nurturance with the need for sustaining the group.

It is a lifelong process.

Georgie Bright Kunkel is a freelance writer who can be reached at gnkunkel@comcast.net or 206-935-8663.