Face The SUN

It's summer. Different people have different views of this time of the year. Some think of a long vacation, others of trips to other places. Yet on the whole, summer is synonymous with frolic and fun, and so much sun.

Others shrink at the thought of a sunny day. The heat can be intimidating, of course; the high ambient temperatures threaten the risk of a sunburn. But, generally, sun is a good thing. Especially before ten o'clock in the morning and after three in the afternoon, sunlight is rich in vitamin D, which is good for the bones. It is also good for the skin, for the production of melanin, the coloring matter of the skin that filters out ultraviolet rays that may cause skin cancer.

Yet, aside from its promise of benefits for our physical health, sunlight also has abstract values. Personally, I take it to symbolize enlightenment or a bright, positive outlook. Many fears, misunderstandings, apprehensions and doubts can vanish when things are brought to light. A peaceful, happy and problem-free period of life is often referred to as the "sunny days."

I was once at a troubled juncture in my youth. A nasty professional rivalry forced me to leave a job that I loved so much. I'm never one to beg off from competition, but it was apparent that I was losing by power play. I had to resign.

Officemates tried to comfort me with cliché words: that I was a big loss to the organization, that they would never forget my fun company. But real consolation came from my elderly supervisor. All along, she kept her distance, until my final day at the office.

"Face the sun," she said softly, "wherever you go from here." That was about all she said as she walked me to a waiting taxi. I bade goodbye, my heart heavy with resentment. She patted my shoulder and closed the cab's door for me. It was a very sad moment; in fact, the saddest up to that point of my life.

"Face the sun." My supervisor's voice rang repeatedly in my mind. Much later, those simple words proved to be very sound counsel, indeed. I kept it in mind through the years, and everything went just fine for me. I did not sulk for too long; I recovered quickly and found other career possibilities.

It's hard to imagine what I would be now had I continued to harbor ill feelings towards all those who hurt me in the past. I would have been immobilized by hatred, wasting away precious time. The constant thought of past betrayals would have caused me to completely distrust people; I would have no friends today and be very lonely. Every curse we throw at our offenders is bound to hit us, too.

There are some things in life we have no control of-nature, the past and other people. Things can always go wrong. And when they do, we either blame nature or resent the past or hate other people. But none of these will make things right; in fact, they can make matters worse, instead. Positive change can only come from us, when we learn to control our own thoughts and actions.

Life is much better when it is lived in the present, with the awareness that people may not always behave or events always unfold according to our wishes. Life is not always fair. We may toil so hard and get too little returns for our efforts. At work, we may find ourselves under the rule of a pure beginner or someone of much inferior competence, but who treats us in a high-handed way. Many would sigh and murmur, "Foolish greenhorn, he has not even come half of where I'd been."

I've learned not to dwell on past achievements. It's a fateful way to go through life. But many times there's somebody that had made one major triumph in his life, who makes a big story about it, then adds an interesting twist to it, and then adds some more. In the process, the feat becomes so embellished with extras so that the whole story ends up becoming fiction. When we try to live on yesterday's glory, we are likely to ruin it.

There are people who show an occasional outburst of brilliance and those who can be depended upon to give their best, day after day. The moment a single brilliant deed gets into our head and we begin to believe that it's enough to keep us shining for a long time to come, the idea will corrode us and we will begin to rust.

Today's sunlight comes from today's sun. Many spouses complain that their partners have ceased to love them. "Oh, how she loved me before, why does she not love me as much now?" is a question often asked in desperation. Perhaps the complaining party himself has ceased to be lovable. If we want to be loved today, we must be lovable today. Yesterday's love had been spent and enjoyed, tomorrow's love is not yet here. Some say we must not forget the past, that even past failures have valuable lessons. Fine. But it is certainly unwise to break our backs carrying past burdens when we can let go of them. What we might better do with the past is to learn from it and move on. There's no doubt that past achievements have their weight, as well; precisely why we should put them behind us, too. Let's be glad for yesterday's achievements, okay; but not feed our consciousness, our pride, our self-image upon them. That would be like serving ourselves yesterday's meals.

It's a great life where there's no dark past to haunt us, no past hurts to slow us down, no uncertain future to dread. No matter where we're coming from, we can bask in the cleansing sunlight and be renewed every day. Let us not be held back by past mistakes or grow conceited by the past triumphs. Each new sunrise brings both a new hope and a new challenge.

I have learned to love, share, help, laugh and live in the present. Face the sun, I was once told. I did, and my shadow fell behind me. The wisdom has not left me ever since. (E-MAIL: [email protected])