In the Midst of It -- 2

Years ago, I recall reading a story about a woman's experience in a Nazi concentration camp. Amazingly, even in that horrific environment, she was able to experience joy. No doubt it was a challenge, but somehow she was able to take pleasure in the beauty of the sunset, the few wild flowers growing along the fence, the song she remembered, the giving of a smile or a word of encouragement to her fellow prisoners. It is amazing to me that, even in such a circumstance, this woman held to the truth that joy is a choice and that in giving it, she received.
 
In a more recent story, a woman named Jane Korman took her children, along with their grandfather who had survived internment, to visit several of these camps. At each location, and while playing the song I Will Survive, they danced an additional memory into existence. Though some criticized her, saying she dishonored the dead, she believed her actions, her expression of joy, honored the spirits of all those who had suffered there. She believed that joy does not dishonor suffering, nor does it discount pain.

Certainly, there is nothing fun about tragedy, loss, death. Watching a loved one die, a child suffer, a relationship end, is heart wrenching. Yet, in the face of the most difficult circumstance, joy can be chosen, laughter can be shared, pleasure can be created --without denying the difficulty. It is within the capacity of the human experience to make that choice.
 
In the midst of whatever challenge I may face, I am reminded:  If a young woman in a death camp can find a way to experience joy, certainly I can. And sometimes, choosing to crawl into bed and having a good cry, is the most helpful choice. This, to me, is empowering --knowing that I have a say, that I can choose to cry or smile or howl at the stars or laugh at a joke or enjoy the beauty of nature or meditate alone or visit friends, taking pleasure in their company--  knowing there is not a single feeling that is wrong, or behavior that is outside of my choice. 

The young woman in the concentration camp had no control over her environment and the horrors that went along with it. What she did have a choice about is how she lived, what she focused on, in the midst of it.

She inspires me.