The Thunderstorm

My memory is an angel that is swimming upstream in the river of time. It’s swimming to where it was born in Western Africa. I can trace to almost the very moment when I decided that I was going to do this. It was at the Tizi N’Test pass in Morocco, near the tail end of a traveling adventure in Western Africa and seeing this place was a near religious experience.

I’m a traveler and a buddhist, two things that go well together.  Constant meditation cultivates what’s known in Tibetan as “shamatha-vipassana” or, in English, mindful-awareness. The result of this is that every now and then, at very opportune times, I become very aware of where I am. I was very aware of the Tizi N’Test.

At the time all I could think of was how beautiful it was. It’s the place where the many valleys of Marrakech meet the Sahara. Lush greenery juxtaposed with red clay hill made for some beautiful scenery and I felt lucky that I was able to see it. I was then saddened when I realized that there are many who will never see it. 
Or on a smaller level, even things in their backyard.
People who have husbands and wives to love, children to raise and grandchildren to spoil. 
It was yet another moment of realizing how truly wonderful my life was (and still is!).

And then the thunderstorm rolled into my head, I actually could give life to someone. If you have two of something and can live perfectly fine on one and the other could save someone's life then why not? The science is certainly well trodden territory at this point.
I have no idea why or how this idea arose, but I made the decision at that point that I would at least keep it in my mind; an angel perpetually swimming backwards to that place in Morocco.


Swim no more angel, that current you resist is progress. It is now time to let go and let the current carry you to now, this moment.  You have evolved from memory into a determination.