THE FINAL LESSON

In the life of a person or nation there's a galaxy of daily lessons to be learned. Really to survive, must be learned

How not to put your finger back into that fire...how to get mom's or teacher's attention...how to drive this first car without getting into an accident...how to prevail in these white water rapids...how to find and hold the right job ...how to find and hold the right mate. All too quickly, though, many of us will say: "Been there, done that."

There's a presumptive finality to any such comment. No matter the years under our belt or the wrinkles on our face, we travelers through the thickets of life will be confronting new lessons to the day we die. If we don't, well, then we're already a little dead.

This life imperative -- that we continue to learn -- has been written deep into our evolved consciousness. And yet both people and nations often live the imperative poorly. There's this pedestrian phrase we all use: "You just got to get through it."

Wrong...! What the wisest people and nations have said throughout history is: "You just have to go through it." One small verb shifts the entire challenge. The whole lesson, The very chances of survival.

To "get through" something like a firing or a divorce or a death. Like a Depression or a War or a 9/11. Simply getting through it really means little more than managing to hold yourself together. With whatever is handiest -- anger, denial, sleep. However, the demon is not mastered by simply holding-yourself-together. Only by facing its full furies, fathoming its full terrors, and then putting the sword into its black heart.

The people and nations who best prevail are those who wield the best swords. Consider. The honest knowledge of what is at stake...the total commitment to tame it...the full peace of mind at the end to live with the consequences. We all know a few good friends who have done it. A few great leaders who have done it. Time again to strap that sword to the belt, and "go through" the next lesson.

You can be sure it's just up ahead...