In going through old files and stored documents as I prepare to move in three days, I came across some letters, pictures, and material I forgot I actually had. They took me back many many years…right back to when I graduated from High School (in 1974) and earlier to the time when this picture was taken by Chatelaine Magazine (1959) when they did an article about my two blind parents raising us six children.
The picture was taken in Toronto and I am on the left sitting on the floor. Shortly after this, due to a traumatic event, I went through, I was put into foster care and rarely saw my family again.
I came across a letter my sister, who was the eldest, sent me many years ago describing the heart-breaking experiences she went through which left life-long emotional scars.
As I sat reading the letters and looking at rare photos I didn’t remember I had, I reflected on the journey this life has been, the pain, abandonment, confusion, alienation, and self-doubt not only for me but for the brothers and sisters I never really got to know.
We all have our own stories but today mine came back with tears and a penetrating realization…
Our hardships make us who we have become, and if processed through the lens of forgiveness, compassion, and a willingness to understand what sometimes is very difficult, a diamond is shaped by the profound pressure of the human heart. And this diamond is what becomes a treasure to be shared with the world…to everyone who struggles to find their way through the unspeakable and the dark corridors of the soul.
As has been said, it is through the cracks that the Light comes through.
And so, this day, as I rummage through the archives of my past I find myself deeply grateful for it all.
“I was raw, I ripened, I was (and am) alright”.
The lotus has emerged from the mud.
-Tru Guy Reginald Stefanowich Starhorse 
