I think today I made peace with being the proverbial cat lady. 😂 Although I have to admit they are very strange creatures that I don’t quite understand. I usually start with Pumpkin, as secretly, he is my favourite. 🐈 He sits on my lap the entire time I am there soaking up every bit of attention he can get. (I have my suspicion he may be a ‘four’🤗). So while I am sitting with him all the other four cats in the adjoining cages are crying and demanding attention. When, however, I do get to their cages they completely ignore me. What’s up with that? 🤔 See that’s why I prefer dogs…they are far less fussy with their attention and I know where I stand with them. Mmmm… and yet I still keep going back to the cats. Clearly, I will need to psycho-analyse myself some more this week. 😂
So I stumbled on a documentary about Stairwell B which really fascinated me. The documentary is about how 16 people survived inside the collapse of the World Trade Centre in Stairwell B of the North Tower.
Basically, a group of 12 firefighters were attempting to evacuate themselves from the building when they came across 59 year-old-book
Josephine had been hit by a car a few months before and as a result, was struggling with a bad limp. By the time the firemen reached her, she had already managed to climb down 50 floors with only one good leg. By then she was exhausted and could barely stand. Obviously, the firemen couldn’t leave her and attempted to help her down. As a result, the entire company had to slow down the pace that they could move at so to accommodate Josephine. By the 4th floor she was in so much pain they had to carry her. When the tower fell apparently it only took 8 seconds for the entire building to come down. Amazingly it was these firemen’s decision to stay with and help Josephine that ultimately saved all their lives as they were then stuck in the centre of the building, the only part that didn’t fully collapse.
In the documentary, Josephine speaks about how she hadn’t felt well that morning but had made herself toughen up and go to work. I can only imagine her inner critic berating her the entire climb down those stairs ” Why didn’t you just stay at home!!”. I can only imagine how much pain she was in, how exhausted she must have felt and how angry she must have felt at having that injury that was slowing herself and all these other people down. 🤕
But the reason I love that story is….her pain and her exhaustion was ultimately the miracle needed to save all those people. Had Josephine not been there, they would have been further down the stairs and most certainly would have died. For me, this is just such a beautiful reminder that there is always a bigger picture in life. We might not understand the difficult, hard, messy and painful times…but they can so often serve a purpose. Especially if we are open to finding that purpose. 😄
There is a spiritual quote made by the Venerable Thupten Ngodrup.
“In order to grow and gain wisdom, first you must have the mud — the obstacles of life and its suffering. … The mud speaks of the common ground that humans share, no matter what our stations in life. … Whether we have it all or we have nothing, we are all faced with the same obstacles: sadness, loss, illness, dying and death. If we are to strive as human beings to gain more wisdom, more kindness and more compassion, we must have the intention to grow as a lotus and open each petal one by one”.(1)
Thanks for reading. I hope you have a fantastic day tomorrow
🤗🐞🌹🌷🐝🍁🍁
(1)Excerpt: ‘A Lotus Grown in the Mud’ Hawn, G. & Holden W.