"Why are you scared?" he asked.
"Because not knowing is scary," she answered.
"What do you think you know then?" he continued.
"Well, I know a lot of things about a lot of things," she replied.
"And knowing takes away fear?" he asked.
"Yes, of course, because when you know something you know what to do or what can be done," Erica answered.
The old man closed his eyes, smiled mischievously, then asked: "what about the things you don't know that you don't know about?" Let me quote a man by the name of Donald Rumsfeld. This is what he says:"There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know."
The young woman looked at the old man, eyes filled with incredulity then answered:
"that sounds complicated, all I know is that knowing stuff, makes me feel more secure."
Slowly the old man lifted his small cup of tea, took a thoughtful sip and then continued: "where one is another cannot be. When we are filled with fear there is little room for love, hope, and faith."
Erica took a deep breath then responded: "how is love, hope, or faith supposed to make me feel less scared? None of those things are founded on anything solid. Love can wane, hope can be false, and faith is just putting one's trust in something ethereal in nature or something we want to be true."
"Let me ask you this Erica, knowing that there is a possibility that love can vane, does that prevent you from seeking to love or be loved, does knowing that hope can be false prevent you from having hope at all, or does the ethereal nature of faith prevent you from having faith in that which you call "solid"?" asked the old man.
"What are you trying to say," asked Erica, "are you saying that love, hope, and faith are antidotes to fear moreso than "knowing"? After asking the question Erica stood up, walked over to the window, crossed her arms, and turned her back to the old man sitting on a chair sipping his tea.
"What is love, hope and faith going to do for me, I mean, how can such things help me deal with my illness? Only knowing what to do about it, how to fix it, will make me feel less scared," said Erica quietly.
The old man could hear the desperation in her tone of voice, he could see it in the way she was holding herself, so he stood up and walked up next to her, then gently he put a hand on her shoulder.
"Erica, hope and faith are ingredients in the very essence of love, and although they are perhaps not cures or answers, they can help you endure this uncertainty. You can hope that a cure will be found, you can have faith in those who are trying to help you, and you can find comfort in the knowledge that you are loved. Being scared of the unknown, is part of the human condition and something that we all struggle with, but why should we fear it? Perhaps in the unknown awaits beauty and joy beyond human understanding, and since we do not know what the unknown holds, we can choose to think of it with thoughts of fear, or thoughts of something wonderful. When our minds are filled with hope, there is no room for fear."
Finally Erica spoke. "Can you help me grand-dad? Can you help me find more hope? I am so scared."
The old man embraced the young woman, held her close to his heart while gently saying: "you are loved dear child, you are loved, let go of your fears and let us hope and believe together. Neither love, nor hope, are bound by age, or by limits, nay, not even by death."
(Citizen X)
"Love....it surrounds every being
and extends slowly to embrace
all that shall be." (Khalil Gibran)
No comments:
Post a Comment