The Sun is a Rock

In eighth grade, I read a book written by a young Jewish girl that had survived the Second World War by exiling to Siberia with her mother and grandmother. Times were tough and not only were her school notebooks made from newspaper, as food was scarce and the winter cruel. I recall her describing her mother as the rock of Gibraltar because throughout rough times her mother never faltered, standing by her family courageously and finding the strength to motivate them even when the potatoes were frozen in the ground.

A rock endures all weather.

I assume all my responsibilities.
I stand up to life’s challenges.
I handle my affairs.
I seek and find solutions.
I pay my own bills and I take care of myself.
I’m as independent as an individual could possibly be and I’m every bit the woman I intended on growing up into.
I’m the woman, the friend, the co-worker, the daughter, sister, psychologies and every bit the rock I’m expected to be.

A strong rock; steady and reliable.
Resistant and made of the stuff that supports and survives.
Rocks aren’t expected to even have to lean on another rock.

There’s and Old Portuguese saying about soft water and hard rocks…

When I’m alone and the world doesn’t need me to be strong, I find that the soft water comes from within and that at times like tonight, I wish I had my own rock to lean into, to summon strength when all of mine deserts me, leaving me feeling weak and vulnerable.

At the end of the book and the war, the girl returns to Austria with her mother and grandmother. There she is met at the train station by her father and brother, and for the first time in her life, she watched the rock break down as her mother put her arms around her husband and expressed the hurt caused by the years of pain, hardship and distance.

While the human being is given the potential to learn and overcome almost any difficulty in life, not always does the outcome depend on our bravery. And while we were given hands and brains to produce and invent, there are still some things that only faith and fate can give us.