The Difficult Side of Destiny

There is a difficult side of destiny. This is the shadowy place untouched by the sunshine of happy thoughts and positive results. This is where the moss of life adheres and extracts every ounce of mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual strength.

I prefer the other side of destiny that faces right into the sunshine. Light streams through forests of despair lighting butterflies in flight as if performers on stage.

On this side of destiny, students learn to read, grade point averages soar, and thankfulness pours from lips.

Yesterday afternoon was a hellish day in my classroom. I can only allow supervised bathroom visits due to students sneaking off to smoke. Of course none of this is admitted by them, but I smell the heavy scent of perfume and cologne used as a cover. Duty aides also report bathrooms reeking of smoke. I even understand the devastating circumstances of their lives that cause such hurt and anger and the drive to medicate their emotional pain. Yet those venomous threats spewed in an attempt to get what they want often burn away my confidence and resolve.

I had to call for an administrative escort in order to remove two defiant youth from my class. I drove home with a migraine while fighting back tears of discouragement. Yet I will continue to challenge youth to come out of their darkened places and pursue a destiny that streams with possibilities.

I do not like the difficult side of destiny, never have and never will. On the dark side of destiny, we weep over our children living out harmful consequences of self-destructive choices. We watch those we love fight off illnesses. We help our aging parents cloth themselves after surgeries and grieve as precious souls pass from this earth to the next realm.

On this darkened side of destiny, marriages crumble forcing us to become retrained, in ways of the heart as well as in career. We grieve in shadows of shame and resist uncovering face when alarm clocks blare.

I wish I could always live on the sunny side of destiny’s forest. But alias, I live in a fallen world where shadowy places exist. Yet the good part is that so many people I love and cherish must also, at times, live in these darkened places.

Together we provide a support network that makes precious friends as close as family members.

When we look at an enchanting forest, we marvel as much over the darkened places as we do over those alight with streaming sunlight. In fact, the shadows provide contrast making the lighted places appear even brighter. Our eyes delight in the overall picture of beauty and we somehow gain strength to embrace the dark side of destiny once again.