I couldn’t help but overhear what they guy was saying to his friend at the table next to mine.  It turned out he boxed a little and got to when he knocked someone out: “It was the best moment of my life,” he said.

Perhaps he didn’t mean it the way I heard it but many only feel good because others are in the dust.

This reminded me of something Anne Lamott confessed about needing people she doesn’t like to mess up:

‘I recall the New Yorker cartoon of one dog saying to the other: “It’s not enough that we succeed. Cats must also fail.”‘*

There’s another way, though, one that makes sense of finding meaning in helping people out of their dust.  I happened to read these words from Erwin McManus moments later:

‘Submission is not about powerlessness; it is about meekness.  To be meek is to have controlled strength. […] Humility gives the mobility to adapt to whatever context we are placed within.’**

What we find is that our world had a limitless capacity for producing lives that are meaningful and rich.  And we all get to live out this story.

It’s all about what we do with the dust.

(*From Anne Lamott’s Hallelujah Anyway.)
(**From Erwin McManus’ Uprising.)