Peace of mind

Recently I had the pleasure of renewing my bridge partnership with a close personal friend from Worland. We competed (not too well unfortunately) in a regional tournament in Casper over last weekend. After a break of some years from tournament action, it was an eye-opener to experience the competition again and to renew acquaintance with old friends and opponents.

Amazingly, playing with teammates from the club in Worland, we won five matches and lost one on the last day of the tourney. The best part of the weekend was seeing the excitement and joy our team partners were feeling as the day went on. Though the outcome was gratifying, the memories will be of their reaction to the outcome.

And, if you’re still reading this script, that is as they say a lead-in to the real point of this column. It has occurred to me that it’s so often the case that when we see happiness, excitement, anger, compassion, or any other strong feeling, our memories rear up with like feelings from our own load of baggage accumulated over the years we’ve been stockpiling such, and we empathize because we have once before felt those same powerful emotions ourselves.

Ever been poor? Really poor? So poor that macaroni without cheese was what you afford for dinner? So poor that you saw your children cry from hunger? So poor that a visit to the doctor if the wound wasn’t bleeding, or if it was but Elmer’s Glue was available was out of the question?

Ever heard the moan of an elderly friend not from pain, but from the loss of a lifelong companion? Ever seen the confused and terrified look on a child’s face when they found out that dad and mom weren’t going to live together any more?

When Cain was asked where Abel was, he responded, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” It seems that we’re being asked that question frequently today. What we have to do is look into ourselves and try to answer it for our own peace of mind.