A new beginning...

The forest fire ripped through thousands of hectares and destroyed everything that came in its way. As fire fighters fought gallantly, the fire raged on for weeks. As I watched the stories of various people who had escaped the fire, I also could not help notice the thousands of creatures that could not escape the fire. Then, someone said something that stuck to my head, "After every such disaster that looks like everything is lost, comes a new beginning."  The fires had created so much heat that it started raining.  The rains had resulted in a small sprout coming out of these burnt forests. Was this the new beginning for this forest?

The pride of lions (or should I say lioness) hunted down a zebra. While few other zebras initially tried to save the one that was killed, they quickly moved on. There was no time to save a life...they had to run for theirs...it was either to be hunted down or escape. They chose to live...they had to start a new journey in their lives without their friend...and their lives moved on.  The narrator in a famous TV Channel said, "And the cycle of life continues..after every such incident there is always a hope of new life. Nature has its own way of destroying and creating." This is what Indians call Shiva (the destroyer) and Brahma (the creator).

This is so true in our lives too....beyond every "end" as we experience it, there is always a new beginning. Those who have experienced death in their families, will definitely understand this.  As in many things in life, the learning is very much experiential.  When a tragedy occurs, we just get pulled in to it and it takes a lot of time to come out of it...in my life when I experienced death in the family, I was shattered...but, as I told myself, "Life has to go on". I had to take charge of few things in life. While the death caused havoc for me emotionally, there was a new beginning in my life as one chapter ended and a new one was beginning. I had to recognize this new chapter and start working on it and, in fact, scripting the chapter.

As we look back on 2011, there are many things that have happened to us.  Some, that we are happy about and some not so happy.  But, this is what life is all about...a mix of both what is good and what is not so good. What we call the sweet and the bitter. If you see most traditional societies, elders typically give us something to eat as the new year begins. The items given to eat would include something sweet and something bitter. They would tell us to take both in our stride.  Only if we experience the bitter will we really appreciate the sweet. Only when we experience an end is there a new beginning.   

So, while we talk of a glass being "half full" or "half empty", I would say that it is necessary to experience the drink in the glass and ask for the re-fill. 

As 2011 ends, a new year called 2012 has begun.  There is always a new beginning after every end.