the burning desire to live

Imagine yourself at the height of your career, a young man now entering the fine forties - there is so much potential, promise...purpose. 

And Chadwick Boseman taught us a little bit about purpose before his passing: 

"Purpose is an essential element of you. It is the reason you are on the planet at this particular time in history. Your very existence is wrapped up in the things you are here to fulfill. Whatever you choose for a career path, remember, the struggles along the way are only meant to shape you for your purpose."

I wonder now at his strength and resolve. I think, even as a Muslim who believes in an afterlife and who hopes only good from Allah (swt), I would find myself faltering in such harrowing circumstances. Boseman envisioned an enduring purpose. I (can only) suspect that when the narrowing of his years first struck him, he recalibrated his vision - that is to say, he adjusted himself in such a way that did not allow for the hindering of his progression towards his vision.

It is fine enough to hear a living and healthy man state that he wants to live with purpose. To hear a dying man say the same ignites an unmatched inspiration. Tell me, do you have in you that burning desire to live with purpose? 

I am reminded now of Mary Oliver's (whom we also lost recently) "The Summer Day": 

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

  
 

 

                                            In Memoriam, Chadwick Boseman (1976-2020)

                                                                   Wakanda forever