I Am All In

You play the hand you are dealt. Stroke. Heart disease. Aneurysms. Sarcoma. Carcinoma. Melanoma. Tsunamis. Automobile Accidents. Plane Crashes. Falls. Parkinsons. Early Onset Alzheimers. Juvenile Diabetes. Multiple Sclerosis. Asthma. Muscular Dystrophy. Cystic Fibrosis. Terrorists. Snipers. Friendly Fire. Combat. Breast Cancer. Prostate Cancer. Arthritis. Blindness. MRSA. Emphysema. Chronic Pulmonary Disorder. Hemophilia. Sepsis. Pneumonia. Crime. Alzheimers. Dementia. Mental Illness.


If you or a loved one has not been affected by one of those "card hands" of life then kneel down and kiss the ground. But alas, you will inform me of the countless other afflictions that are looming possibilities in the next "hand". Hunger. Starvation. Homelessness. Lack of water. Lack of clean water. Perhaps you live in a country where rape is commonplace. There is elder abuse. There are kids without families. There are people suffering from debilitating depression. Post-traumatic stress disorder, brain injuries and loss of limbs are but a few of the after-effects our troops may face.


Colon cancer. Crohn's Disease. Liver cancer. Pancreatic cancer. Brain tumors. Progeria. AIDS. Leukemia and Lymphoma. If you or a loved one still has not encountered one of these "card hands" then you are ever so lucky. The luck of the draw? Surely to God it is not that random. Yet sadly it is.

We can waste an enormous amount of time trying to dissect what caused something to happen when it happened to whom it happened. Why now? Why them? Why that? If only there were clear answers to any of those questions. Guilty as charged. I ask them every day. I plead for definitive answers. (There are clear cause and effect results for some diseases but many remain a mystery.)

The deck is shuffled and shuffled again and shuffled again. The cards take flight and land on us with the lightness of a feather or the impact of a thunderous rockslide. Our lives continue unscathed or are forever changed in an instant.

We can choose to live in overwhelming fear and a state of paranoia or we can live as if we already got the infamous joker in our hands. Live each and every day not in a breathless race as if it is our last but in a state of gratitude and purpose. Appreciate each person in our lives as if we might not see them again with love and affection and appreciation. Let's not smother them and scare them into an early demise. It is okay to laugh. Laughter helps us to get through.

We can choose to be thankful that there are so many scientists and researchers and medical teams and philanthropists working toward cures and prevention and treatments. We can give generously to those organizations before we are affected because it is the right thing to do. We have to remember St. Jude's Hospital and other childrens hospitals because we have healthy children in our lives.

There was a time that we feared sharks in the water more than just about anything. Okay this was after the atom bomb fears. Now it is salmonella or a rogue peanut. The cards are dealt and you get the peanut allergy and you get the bird flu. I have to believe that there is a better explanantion than a genetic roll of the dice.  I want to believe that there are answers.


I will not be found looking over my shoulder anticpating the grim reaper in the form of a tsetse fly or spontaneous combustion. If the tree branch falls at the precise time that I am walking under it then clearly the tree had an issue with me. I will cling to hope for positive outcomes. I will continue to ask questions and try to solve the puzzles of life and anticipate the cards headed my way. And when I unfold my hand and examine what I have been dealt, the question will not be how to play but whether or not to play.

Life is precious. Live each and every moment.
My cards have arrived. The dealer speaks: Are you in?
I'm in. I am all in.





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You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table.
There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.

Ev'ry gambler knows that the secret to survivin'
Is knowin' what to throw away and knowing what to keep.
'Cause ev'ry hand's a winner and ev'ry hand's a loser,
And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.

( partial lyrics...The Gambler...songwriter Don Schlitz...performer Kenny Rogers)

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