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Each part of the tapestry of life, is the thread that weaves through the invisible. When the seams are knitted with love, all become manifest and whole in being…gcw may2013

The call  that late November came from my sister and there was the uncertainty and urgency in her voice that my brother Michael, was hospitalized.   She suggested I should try to come back home to Maryland, at the earliest time off allowed.

Michael, a robust 5’10” 225 lb, brick muscle gladiator, rugby player, Master Electrician, devoted father, sometimes ornery brother, was never sick or in hospital for all my life of knowing him.  Michael, was just impenetrable about his positions and opinions.   And Michael taught me the meaning of indomitable will and courage as he fought and battled to hold on to life, with a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. He survived for five months after that call. The night before he died, with a frail body mass of 97 lbs, he bravely ushered in the finality of life, with his signalling proclamation, “I’m outta here”.  In the words of his favorite song ” For what is a man, what has he got, if not himself then he has not, to do the things he truly feels, and not the words of one who yields, I did it all and I stood tall and did it My Way”  (My Way sung by Frank Sinatra), he died as he lived, with purpose and self discipline.

Within the tapestry of life we encounter the threads of experiences which sew together the quality of the  human being that we clothe ourselves in as character.  When our family, and especially Michael’s offsprings remember him, etched in the fabric of his person, are the intricate conviction of  his sense of  values.

We are all part of an ethereal tapestry that is weaved in unknowns.  To comprehend the magnificence of our personal brilliance and the reason for our presence are explorations into the realm of infinite potentiality.

In birth we appear as fragile and helpless, and nothing is more nurturing or life giving as the security of  a mother’s womb.  On arrival to our assumed identity, we build character and form definitions of  the image that we conceive as our own.  With all types of influences and impacts from family; from traditions; from rituals; from education; from society;  we become more inclined to demonstrate the part that is most etched in our life training and adopted personalities.

One of Michael’s favorite ideologies  and one which is akin to defining his persona, is ” Stand for something or you will fall for anything. ”   He processed the quality of noble conscience, in his assertion and conviction of manliness.   He was inflexible, assertive and immovable when he took a stance.

During our maturing phases of life, moments of challenge and disquiet are when our chances to welcome and nurture the scripts of  friendship, loyalty, integrity, honesty, fairness, justice, and compassion appear as counsel.   These are the euphemisms of personal character definitions that guide and shepherd us in our journeys of trial and tribulations, hope and despair and personal redemption.  We are characters in the art of life and we portray our roles with our personal scripts.  Shakespeare’s As you Like It

 ”  All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players,  they have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts” As You Like It Act 2, scene 7, 139–143

characterizes our mortal existence and our many stages of appearance.

With our exits and entrances, with the many roles we perfect, there is no illusion in memory.  Our cloaks and garments that remain forever to warm the hearts and wipe the tears, are stitched and threaded with favorite and reverenced emotions.  The patches of each of our life’s tapestry are colored and fused with our  invisible likeness of being.  The emotions of character are never erased.  Our life is a story of brilliance.  From our unknown beginnings in the birthing passage, to the fragility in our final exits, we remain carved in the gifts we give to others, the many attributes of character formation.

… Integrity, Compassion, Humor, Empathy, Respect, Forgiveness, Compassion, Sincerity, Empathy, any of these or all shown on the above, we chose and live:  What do you stand for?