This Beautiful, Terrible Life

My July started with a journey to Europe to farewell Lars Jaeger, a very good friend and a strong supporter of Blue Dragon.

Lars pa​ssed away after a three year battle with glioblastoma. He fought all he could, but this form of cancer is particularly cruel with a tragically low survival rate.

Lars’ memory will live long at Blue Dragon.

Much of our support from Switzerland originated with Lars. He and his family have contributed to some important parts of our work, including the establishment of a social enterprise and the employment of a male psychologist.

Vale Lars, a brilliant man with a heart of gold.

Just a few weeks later, an occasion of a very different kind: Blue Dragon staff member Kim Miller swam the English channel.

The challenge of swimming the channel is incredible in itself. Something I learned in the lead up to this: more people have summitted Everest than have swum the channel.

What makes Kim’s swim even more extraordinary is that she only took up ocean swimming as a hobby a few years ago, during Covid lockdowns.

That’s a remarkably short time to develop the skill needed for a 13 hour swim. But she did it, raising funds to fight human trafficking along the way.

And as always, all the many highs and lows of life at Blue Dragon.

One evening, I received a message from Quang, one of our old boys who works in IT. Attached to his message was a photo of an ultrasound: he and his wife had some great news to share!

Two days later, another message from Quang.

This time, a screenshot of a message from his company. His whole team has been made redundant. Right at the time he needs a stable income, he’s looking for a new job.

Another of the Blue Dragon old boys, Thinh, got into a fight and was arrested soon after.

He’s facing several years in prison, which his actions undoubtedly deserve. But his 5-year-old son – whose mother died several years ago – and the 15-year-old brother he’s been raising are now without the most important person in their lives.

That life is unpredictable and ever-changing is no revelation.

The real challenge is in how we deal with these twists and turns of fate. After all, they are not unique to the Blue Dragon community; none of us knows what joy or sorrow is waiting for us tomorrow.

There’s a Stoic idea that we should prepare ourselves mentally for every possibility, without letting that paralyze us with fear of the future.

Easier said than done, but it’s one of the few ways we can prepare for the highs and lows of this beautiful, terrible life.

And come what may, we keep going. Because life continues and so must we.

Thanks for reading Life Is A Long Story. I’m back to posting weekly and hope you’ll continue following the good work of Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation.