In a recent e-mail, my dad wrote the following as his answer to a question I'd been asking about the purpose of life. He also sent some old photographs of his life as a boy growing up in rural San Antonio. (The boy on the bike is my dad→)What is life all about? That's the big mystery. Everyone has to face this question in their own way.
I haven't a clue about this. But, a universe without life seems rather pointless. But, none of us has a real choice about the matter. As you may know, I almost died when I was born. I had collapsed lungs. My mom's doctor tried a brand new (at that time) experimental treatment...helium to cause my lungs to inflate so that I could breath normally. That worked. But, I might have been one of those who were not as fortunate. So, I could go on living. So, one day, we find ourselves living (with only in a vague memory... in my case when I was in the 1st grade ... the second time ... the first time was so bad that I simply don't remember it.)
My best friend in high school drown in a pool at a Student-Council party with me and dozens of others being near by (at the edge of the pool). He apparently stayed at the bottom of the pool during underwater tag. Someone said, "let's eat." So, we all jumped out of the pool (and left Roger at the bottom of the pool who died there.)
When I conducted the ocean-education trips, I had a student die on a scuba dive. I almost died myself on a dive (when my air ran out at 50-ft underwater.) So, my student died while I kept on living. Why didn't God intervene in these cases? They were not evil people who were somehow out of God's favor.
I don't really trust those who say that they know what life is all about. Maybe they do ... maybe not. In most cases, those who say that they do want to con you into giving them some of what you already have so that their life is better (at the expense of your life being worse.)
Maybe some day we will find out...but for now life is a path that leads to an unknown destination. Or, maybe we just go from one life to another without any memory of what went before? All we do know is that we are people ... not just animals. We have a unique ability (among animals) to know some amount about truth (what we call scientific truth) so that we can act better on that better truth. It's better than being an animal that knows nothing about truth and who is a complete victim of whatever befalls them.
(←Grandma Jerry and her bulldogs w/ dad)As you know, my mother's cancer was not discovered until it was much too late for any kind of treatment that had a chance of leading to remission. Barbara's cancer was discovered at a very early stage. So, her treatments had a high chance of being successful. She did not delve
into the world of alternative medicines. She did what her doctor's recommended. She is a statistic of one ... the statistics of the rest of the pack of cancer victims did not really matter. She did what seemed best. It worked out well for her. My dad's cancer was brought on by his smoking (as well as his other lung diseases). In the end, he too could not take advantage of today's medicine. He lived at an earlier time. He tried to find fault with his doctors and his new wife .. but they were not the cause of his suffering and death. None of us will live forever ... at least not as we live now. We all have to deal with each day ... a day at a time and be grateful that today went okay or well.
We have a lot of cancer in my side of the family. I have friends here who have a lot of trouble with heart disease. I don't have that problem...that not part of my genetic profile. Others have a lot of problems with kidneys. I have friends who have had lots of organ transplants. In no time, they are back to normal. Most everyone I know accepts life at it comes ... and trusts doctors as being the best way to know what to do when adversity strikes ... as it must strike all of us some day.
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