Each person has their own perspective on how life moves through our lives but when we are faced with a dramatic shift in the perspective, we review life from yet a different perspective.

As many of you know, my brother has ALS, a most debilitating disease that steals your life one muscle at a time. So I drove again last week(12 plus hours one way) to see him since I know there is not a long time left. While I was there, there was a tree that had died that was being taken down. The analogy of that act I thought was ironic. Let me explain my weird thoughts.

The state of Georgia is home to various types of pine trees and some of these guys get huge. My brother lives in an older section of Atlanta with a beautiful home and grounds. His house was probably built in the 30s, so the trees are probably well over 100 years in age. The cluster of pine trees that held the dead tree were each well over 80 feet tall with a diameter of 4+ feet. The particular tree had disease which caused rot of that over time slowly killed it completely.

I felt the irony of the death of this tree, diseased from the inside, with my brother’s life. At one time they both stood strong sharing their life with the world.

We must never take any part of our lives for granted for we don’t know what disease, accident, or twist of life may change our perspective in how we view it.

And regardless of how we view life, we can ALWAYS…ALWAYS share kindness to help those who are in great need of that extra smile or kind word, maybe even a hug. Sometimes when we share kindness with others, a feeling of peace comes to us allowing us to reflect on the value and perspective of being kind.