Among the many colorful, yet perceptive and astute phrases Gabriel García Márquez uses, this one found its mark inside of me.
In his book, Love in the Time of Cholera, when talking about the President of the Board of Directors and General Manager of the River Company of the Caribbean, Don Leo XII Loayza, to whom the lovesick Florentino Ariza goes for a job says that at first he was very angry...
".....but he allowed himself to be swayed by his conviction that human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but that life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves."
This, I thought was a fitting response to when we are tempted to say, think, feel - oh, this is the way I am; life has made me this way; this is my DNA or genetic pattern; this is what my life is all about...and other such phrases, to absolve ourselves from making the effort and finding the energy to lift ourselves up. To all of these I find Márquez's words so uplifting.....never mind my genetic pattern, never mind this is how I always react, or this is how life has made me.....No, and again NO. We have to give birth to ourselves every time life's road, for better or for worse, takes a twist or a turn, hits a speed bump, or causes us to have an accident. Yes, even when things are better, we have to give birth to ourselves so that we can enjoy the lovely gift without rancor ( though it may be easier to stay steeped in self-pity). Of course when things go the other way, then we have to give birth to ourselves to be able to overcome the adversity (and not groan and moan about the unfairness of life).
Life requires us to give birth to ourselves in all situations, simply because we CAN...