These past couple of weeks I have realized just how many people in our world show resiliency. One specific example that comes to mind is my uncle.
My uncle recently passed away from Fahr’s disease or as it is known now as Primary Familial Brain Calcification. It is a nasty genetic condition that essentially attacks the communication between someone’s brain and the rest of his body. The more obvious physical signs that showed the disease was active were the deterioration of his fine motor skills, his speech, and his mobility.
As you can imagine, this can be incredibly frustrating when enduring it yourself because it is as if your body is no longer wanting to listen to you like a toddler going through a “no phase.”
That wasn’t the case with my uncle, though. His journey with Fahr’s disease started 3 days after he had a heart transplant, so the strict medical advice that he was given from then on could have seemed limiting to others. However, my uncle was always showing gratitude for living to see another day.
After his heart transplant, the doctors said he may only see a few more years, but he gave us another fifteen. I think the reason for this was his resiliency to keep living the best life he could and enjoy the company of family and friends.
He also showed selflessness even when he was feeling his lowest. He constantly asked how others are doing when people were there to check on him. He knew that he may not be able to move as quickly as he once could or speak as clearly, but he could still show his big, caring heart for others through to his last days.
I think many of us can learn from my uncle’s example. No matter what we are going through or what obstacles are in front of us, we can still handle it with grace and resiliency, and we can always show compassion to others around us.
What are some obstacles that you are struggling with right now? How can you show gratitude? How can you show resiliency? Who can you show compassion to?
Rest in peace Uncle Ron, and thank you for showing us such a great example for how to live our life with gratitude, grace, and compassion.
