Thoughts for Troubled Times

I recently went through some old letters and belongings of my parents saved over many years. In them, I found an airmail letter, typed on thin, onion skin paper and dated March 20, 1973, from one Rafael Icaza. He knew my parents when he was living and teaching in the United States, but at the time he wrote he had returned to his home in Mexico City. 

The letter was sent to my mother three months after my father’s death. Reading it, I was struck by the beauty and wisdom of his thoughts, so beautiful and wise that I felt they deserved to be read by others. His words found me at an opportune moment, though they are, indeed, timeless. They touch a common cord of our humanity, both its struggle and its salvation. Perhaps they will touch you as well.

Though anxieties and even unhappiness are an integral part of life, I don’t think we are ever really prepared for them, and sometimes they come ganging up on one when his morale is at its lowest. You’ll undoubtedly find you’re tougher than ever you believed, you’ll rally yourself and provide the proper comfort to those who need you and love you, and whom you love. This is, after all, not only the human instinct, but the natural one; it’s what companionship is all about.

My mind has been entirely too occupied recently with our own problems. For many years they have been constant, depressing, and almost overbearing. I don’t abandon hope, but I must admit that with each advancing year I get more desperate for their resolution so that I may provide stability and security for my dependents. In troubled times, one tends to think of himself as being victimized, as being singled out by Fate for attrition. As such an attitude possesses us, we lose contact with the realities of Life; in our egoism we become less human. This disposition is as unfortunate as it is erroneous, for all around us there there are those in need of assistance, sympathy and compassion. When we give to these what we can of ourselves, we not only give to them some measure of much needed comfort, but we also begin to see our own problems in clearer focus in their proper perspective. Perhaps we do not resolve our problems, but they become more realistic for us; we come back to earth with a better heart to resume a common struggle.”