"An ordinary day" - Andrew Lovath

I found this in "The Green Fire Times", a New Mexican paper about environment and sustainability in the Northern NM area.
The Author Andrew Lovath teaches speech and communication at the Santa Fe community college.

There is no such thing as an ordinary day

Today is a monumental day in thousands, if not millions of lives

For some this is the day of their birth while others will be leaving this earth

For many around the world, this is the day they have been waiting a long time for...

This is the day that they marry or perhaps they are leaving on a long journey not knowing when they will return to all that is familiar

Someone is leaving home to go to school, entering a hospital or going off to war

This is the day that someone will remember for unexpected good fortune, the day that disaster strikes

This is the day that an unexplainable miracle occurs

For some, today might seem like an ordinary, uneventful day that in retrospect will turn out to be the beginning of a subtle shift that will completely alter their lives

For some, today is better forgotten, a wasted day wallowing in self pity, anger or hatred

Some may see this day as dull and uninspiring, another in a string of indistinguishable days lost in sameness and trapped in circumstance, perhaps in prison, bedridden or without hope

For others today is a day of indescribable ecstasy, surrounded by loved ones, flushed by good spirits, enjoying the nectar of joy and health

The one constant: Today we all share the same sun, breath of life and experience the miracle of our beating hearts

An African woman cooking over an open fire, a Chinese farmer planting seeds, a Norwegian fisherman pulling in nets before dark, a child begging in the streets of Brazil, a truck driver in Poland, a soldier in Nicaragua, a student walking to school in India, an office worker riding the subway in New York

We must all eat and sleep, we all laugh, cry and dream
Mortality is our providence and our time will someday surely come

So let us for this day find unity in what we share. Let us reflect on how we are alike and let this understanding spark a wildfire of compassion that will fuel the future of our beautiful earth