Life in review

The measurement of life is not how long or short one has lived. Is it a straight highway without stops in a landscape of plains without hills, valleys and mountains. Or, is it turns and bends without sure destination
in sight. Is it a planned long journey where every stop is expected and outcomes determined or just a long
journey without thoughts of any light at the end of the tunnel.

When one deciphers what life is for oneself as well as for others in a never-ending interaction of many individual histories, and how such interactions have resulted in millions of episodes, of which some may have created great impacts upon many peoples, do we think that we have lived a meaningful life.

But life is not always how we want it to be, no matter how well we plan if only to avoid pitfalls like pain, sickness, loneliness and worst, poverty. The "here and now" of life could be all roses without any thorns in sight but somewhere is an inheritance of loss, if I may be allowed to borrow Kiran Desai's book title where previous generations continue to impact the present. We could find ourselves hostage to a past without any redemption in sight.

One is reminded of the ancient rivalries and hatred between the "nations" of former Yugoslavia, of a conflict that runs so deep in the psyche of every inhabitant in this region. There is no way to measure how far back the conflict had begun, only that its full eruption was not too long ago and mass graves are still being discovered.
How many lives were lost, how many souls scarred forever.