Relay for Life 2011

This past weekend I participated in my 3rd Relay for Life. For the most part it is a family event. Because who doesn't have family affected by cancer? Right. And this year was no different. Well, a little different but that part's not important. Our team name was Yes You Can Sir. We were walking in recognition of men's cancers. We had a Knight theme and all our Knight names were plays on words. Mine was (if detected early, cancer is) Sir Mountable. Ya, it could be taken a couple different ways.

The slogan for the Relay is Celebrate.Remember.Fight Back. As always, I find myself more on the Remember end of things. I usually don't dwell on things. The past is the past. But something about this event gets to me. Most the time there, I am walking alone around and around. Faster than most. That's just how I walk. I don't dawdle. As I walk, I do a lot of reflecting. I think about how much I miss the loved ones I've lost. I think about all the people there and how much they miss their loved ones. I think about the pain in their hearts. I think about what the survivors had to go through to still be here. And I think about my own mortality and how those around me would suffer if, karma forbid, something terrible ever happened to me. Sounds kind of morbid but it's not really. The finiteness of this life is something we need to think about. If we can live with the mentality of "I may die today," eventually we can gain a greater appreciation for this precious human life. We can cherish every moment we have. We can strive to make each moment even better, not just for ourselves but for those around us, those we love, those we don't love yet, those we'll love again and all life everywhere in space and time.

That's what I thought about as I circled the track again and again for over 20 kms. Thousands and thousands of steps. Each one a moment, a thought, a reflection in time. Each one a step towards making the universe a better place.