“If you have been spared in order to live, are you living?”

“If you have been spared in order to live, are you living?”

Recently, I was reminded of the gift of life. So simply, but so easy to take for granted. The quote above is from Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s book Life Lessons. The quote is a wake-up call. It is easy to sink beneath so many different fears or doubts. But perhaps, like Frankl, we have been spared for a reason.

A few years ago, I received an award in honor of Jennifer Caldwell. Jen was a human rights worker and University of Washington graduate and Bonderman Fellow who tragically passed away in South Africa. A friend of mine and I won a human rights scholarship in her name. I never knew Jen while she was alive, but after learning her story, I viewed winning an award in her name as a true honour. It was a call to action: she died doing what she loved and rallying for social justice and human rights. In her short time on earth, she made a true difference in terms of human rights work, and in the lives of her family and friends. That was very clear.

But we are still here. What will we do with our one wild and precious lives? (Mary Oliver quote)

There is Jen’s story, and there are many others. One that inspires me in particular is that of Amy Biehl. Amy was a Peace Corps worker in South Africa right around the time that apartheid fell. She got caught up in mob violence, was targeted for her color and killed. It is a tragic story, but there is a beautiful ending. Amy’s parents forgave the men who killed her. They visited their parents, looked them in their eyes, and forgave them. For killing their daughter. Such strength of character, such a peaceful and loving approach to stop the cycle of violence. Of course violence continues, but again, what each of us does matters. And the peaceful, non-violent movements of Martin Luther King Junior, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, and so many others, move on.

“If you have been spared in order to live, are you living?”