The Man Struck Twice by Lightning
The Man Struck Twice by Lightning
First, we crawl, then we get up, shaking and awkward only to feel the force of gravity and to fall down; there is someone close-by to cheer and encourage us so we try again and again, we fall, we get up and each time we walk a little bit farther. We master walking, it was an odd and novel experience but it's natural and it's not something special anymore so we try something else now, we run, we fall a few times and meet our old friend, gravity, but it's OK, we rise again and again and we master running as well. When running is not enough we try something new and we set new limits to ourselves, we put our limbs and body through the same process or trial and error again and again with learning how to ride a bicycle and learning how to swim.
Then, we are on our own, there are no more persons close-by to catch you when you fall, achieving mastery over gravity makes us think that we achieved mastery over everything but we find soon enough that this is only the beginning. Some people have it easier than others, some people have it harder.
The man: he mastered the art of walking and he is now exercising the art of running. "It's raining outside but I will go for a run anyway, what can happen to me? There are only a few drops of water pulled down from the sky by my old friend, gravity. I have to run, I have to stay in shape, I want to live better, healthier and longer." So he goes out for a run in the rain.
Thunderbolt and lightning.
Image source: publicdomainpictures.net
The man struck once by lightning: scared, dazed and confused, trying to understand what happened, trying to understand the hurt, adrenaline pumping, trying to get up. He stumbles, tries walking but he is feeling again like in his first days of walking, not believing what just happened to him. "Enough running for today!".
Thunderbolt and lightning.
The man struck twice by lightning: more dead than alive, feeling that the universe suddenly turned against him, that this is it, the day has come, the inevitable day, too soon, too early. "That's it, my last run. I didn't expected this day to come this soon". The life giving force of adrenaline makes him get up again, makes him believe that there is hope left, that there will be another day, that there will be another tomorrow.
The man struck twice by life: he is no longer scared now, no longer confused, he knows that any day can be the Day, he understands now, his runs are full of life.
Isn't this video a great metaphor for life? When you think that you have it all, when you are running, when you feel like nothing can get you and that Death is only somewhere in the distant future...that's when the unexpected happens and you get struck by life. Some give up and the first strike, some give up at the second strike, some go on and on until the end of their lives, struck again and again by the lightning of life.