Here's to new beginnings in 2009.

The seventh and last principle of Kwanzaa is faith. People turn to others for comfort, support or help, hoping another person will hear them and help them. Sometimes people just have faith that their circumstances will change for the better.

Emru knew that he might not find a match, but he hoped for the best. He put his faith in his family, his friends, and many other people, including complete strangers. Every day thousands of people turn to the bone marrow registry in the hope that someone will be there who can and is willing to help them. He hoped someone would register and then be willing to donate to him, but he knew that each person who got registered was giving hope to each person (and all the people who cared about that person). He had faith that good was being done and held out a belief that things would likely turn out positively for him, and if not, someone else. It was a great day when he found out he had a match.

I remember a phone call I had with Emru that ended in tears for both us. I gave him a picture of him dressed as one of his favourite heroes, and he said he knew he was going to get the transplant and beat the leukemia. He was right about the transplant, at least. But his faith got him very far, and mentally he was in a good place when he left us.

Faith is not always rewarded, but it is rarely rewarded without taking some form of action while maintaining an attitude that things will move into a positive place. If you want to believe in something, do so fervently, but make a change, however small, to see it come to fruition.

Faith endures: the struggle continues.

Labels: Emru, Kwanzaa