On "what are you for?" and the integrity of your life

 

In Erosion, Terry Tempest Williams writes:

And so I think for each of us to find our own path in the name of community, you know, if each of us finds our own niche, with our own gifts, each in our own way our own time, change can occur.  Radical change... We all need to that that next step, whatever that looks like, for the integrity of our own life.  The challenge that I heard was: what's the most uncomfortable thing you can do -- the greatest risk, with the most at stake. (131)

Williams names the important task of the second half of our lives: finding what we are for.

We know what we are against, but what are we for?  Our friend Ben Cromwell asked this question.  What are you for? What do you love?

I love the double meaning of "what are you for"... what do you support?  what do you back? what change do you want to see? But also: what is a hammer for?  what are YOU for?

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Fred Rogers said:

You rarely have time for everything you want in this life, so you need to make choices. And hopefully your choices can come from a deep sense of who you are.

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Also, this makes me think of the Wendell Berry book "What are Humans For?"