Life as we know it

Two nights, I found out that a good friend of mine has a brain tumor. They were hoping to operate on it today, but decided not to until they knew more about it. I am still waiting to find out the overall results.

When I heard the news, I wasn't totally sure on how to react. And for the first time in a long time, I didn't know exactly what I was feeling. I had had tickets to go see the Transformers midnight showing, but I gave them to a friend because I was no longer in the right mood to see a midnight showing.

I called a good friend of mine who came right over and joined me on a walk. We walked around Dinkytown and talked about it. We agreed that the situation was serious, but nothing to ever give up hope on.

The conversation soon led to the question, "What would you do if you knew you didn't have long?"

Our answers were slightly different, but more or less the same. His was that he would try to become more religious in practice, talk to friends he hadn't in a while, and reconnect with his family. My answer was that I would make sure all the people I loved would be okay after I was gone.

He then told me of an experience he had while traveling in Italy with his school's travel club. While in Italy, he really connected with a travel guide. They instantly hit it off and soon the travel guide told him of a personal life story.

The travel guide had been depressed, and thought about committing suicide often. After a while, he finally decided to go through with it. On the day of, he got a phone call from a friend. This friend invited him to a meditation session at their Buddhist temple. Not wanting to make his friend unhappy, he agreed.

Who knew that one simple act would save his life.

That one meditation session led for him to change his mind and his views on life. He now meditates an hour each morning religiously.

All the while this story was being told, the police had busted a street vendor who was selling metal trinkets without the appropriate vendor license. And just as the travel guide finished telling his story, the vendor ran by them. A metal trinket fell right in between them. The travel guide picked it up, only to realize that the metal object was shaped into a name, the name of my dear friend.

Although I didn't admit it at the time, hearing this story was exactly what I had needed that night. I needed something or someone to help me believe that everything could and would be okay.

That story reassured me that things do happen for a reason.

And I do believe that there is a reason for my friend to have this brain tumor. What that reason is, I don't know yet. But I do feel better knowing that there is one.