Beginnings, Middles, and Ends; Oh My!

This is the second of the two I promised a couple of days ago. I actually had this one pop into my head first but the other "forced" its way out first. So with no further ado...

I was thinking how we spend our lives going from beginnings to ends. There is the BIG beginning - BIRTH, and the BIG ending - DEATH. Then LIFE is what happens in the middle. But, life is really a continuum of beginning - middle - end; over and over.

We humans, for the most part, LOVE beginnings. Think about one of our most celebrated personal days - the anniversary of our beginning - our birthday! We document, record, and celebrate other beginnings - baby's first words, first steps, first day of school, first date, first kiss, first car, first job, etc. We have such a love of beginnings that we keep seeking them all through our lives - just substitute NEW for FIRST. We have new jobs, new cars, new clothes, new loves, and so on. We move to new houses and neighborhoods. New is a good substitute for a beginning (and IS one in a way, I have to concede)

It can get somewhat complicated when we get to endings. Think of a graduation. It is called a commencement. To commence is to "begin, to start". We have taken an ending - of school, or at least that portion of school, and made it a beginning - a commencement of another chapter of life. We keep looking for beginnings after the endings. As stated above - we lose a job...YAAAAA we get a NEW JOB! We get a divorce...OH YEAH we get a NEW LOVE (or even NEW LIFE)! We even have a beginning attached to the BIG ending of death - metaphysics and/or religion offer up Heaven or reincarnation.

What I really find amazing is that most of our life is in the middle. Yes, almost every day has the small beginnings of new, but for the most part we are just existing and getting by. (I do not mean to imply that good and evil are not being committed and that people are not accomplishing things, but in a big picture kind of way - the middle is just getting through the days)

It seems to me however, that for all the beginnings and endings - even with the "news" in there - for the most part we live the majority of our lives in between. Every book has a cover and a back - a beginning and end as it were - but if you do not read the middle all books are basically the same.

IN THE END - I THINK WE FIND IT IS THE MIDDLE THAT MATTERS! 
                                                                                                                            "THE" 4/2017