Formation Toolbox: I’m a loser?

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By Nov. 7, only one candidate will be our next president. The rest will wake up losers.

That’s human. We’re a race of people who ran aground during the voyage of life. A race of losers.

Julius Caesar reached the height of power. Napoleon fought war after war to conquer Europe. Those dreams never made it to port. Caesar was assassinated and Napoleon died in exile. 

Maybe the conquerors and warlords had it coming. But what about those who didn’t? What about the Amanda Todd’s of the world? The victims. The cancer patients who lose their last battle, or the poor who spend their last dollar. Those who never get a shot at their dreams. Those who don’t even have dreams.

What about me? Life is an uphill fight that can have only one outcome. Death. I will die. Even if I help people, they will die too. Doctors can’t change that. Science can’t change that. Philosophy can’t change that. Not even the strongest of loves can change that.

Are we doomed to be losers?

That’s the question Pope Benedict pondered yesterday. His answer is no. We aren’t losers. Even run aground, we have meaning. Because the meaning of our lives doesn’t depend only on us. It’s God’s gift, not ours to give or lose. 

Our voyage through life has more meaning than death or failure could ever take away. But sometimes it takes faith to see more than an empty hulk washed up on the beach.

Read the Pope’s full audience here.