Luctor Et Emergo

Luctor Et Emergo          

 

By John W. Vander Velden

 

Luctor Et Emergo is the motto of the Dutch province of Zeeland.

 

Even though my aunt and uncle came from South Holland, they named their farm, “Luctor Et Emergo”.  My aunt told me it meant I struggle yet survive.  And though that is not the exact translation of the Latin phrase, for Emergo means emerge, it is close enough and seemed a fitting name of that property, considering the journey they made, all the setbacks, all the heartbreaks, that had at last culminated into the ownership of few acres in southern Michigan.  In truth I was but a spectator and for most of those trials.  I was too young to appreciate the blood and sweat poured into a dream that at last came to being.  But reaching that point did not end the difficulties…did not end the struggle.  But the struggles did not destroy them, and though it may have helped to shape who they became, it did not define them. 

No one wants difficulties.  Parents wish to protect their children from the hard realities of life.  We all hope for a better world, one that has eliminated the catastrophes we have endured.  But life…by its own definition…has struggles.  So Luctor Et Emergo should be the slogan each of us shout.  To know that struggles come, come often, try to overwhelm, do their best to destroy hopes and dreams, and sometimes succeed in doing just that.  But they do not destroy…us.  No, we are survivors. We emerge from beneath the tumbling waves that seek to devastate.  Sometimes out of those waves great things arise.  It is for us…as survivors…to stride onward strengthened by the struggle.  To move forward knowing full well that the road before us has its potholes.  But we are survivors, and more, for we have been made stronger by the struggle, and understand that dreams endure as long as breath exists.   

Yes, the battles we have endured have cut us…cut in ways others cannot see…left marks that remind of failures and the fewer hard won successes.  But those scars are symbols, metals of honor, signs that we have overcome obstacles and are still standing.  

Each day we face things planned and unplanned.  Each day there are setbacks, unexpected.  Each day difficulties rear their ugly head.  But when we reach today’s conclusion.  When we at last return to our beds and rest, let us say to ourselves, Luctor Et Emergo, for today as everyday, I have struggled but I survived.

1-26-2017  (417 Words)