THE RAZOR'S EDGE

The title of this classic book hovered around the edges of my mind as my daughter lay in a hospital bed in Victoria last week fighting for her life. On a rainy morning on her way to Port Alberni from her home on the West Coast she was struck by a car as it hydroplaned across the middle line. Two men died in the accident but my daughter lives and will be restored to us. My daughter and one of the men who died are from the same island community. Both are well known for their work in the community. The community member who died was buried yesterday and at his funeral I felt an overwhelming rush of love and appreciaton for the connections of community, the connections that bind us together in life and in death.

Nobody understands, really, the meaning of The Razor's Edge, why some live and some die. But I am sure of one thing...it is in community that we all live and move and have our beings and it is in communities that we must take our stands against injustice, against the forces that would destroy the very foundations of life. The concept that it is only the individual who counts most in the scheme of things and that one's own individual advancement is all that matters is a lie. Without our communities of family, friends, co-workers and neighbours who are with us on the path of life and and death and evolution that we experience on this earth we are nothing.

I believe that the love of community is hard wired into brains. And it is strong. Strong enough to sustain us through our environmental struggles, the court systems, and the political indifference. And we WILL overcome because there is nothing to fear. Betty Krawczyk