Not that long ago I went to see the movie, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. I have to admit, I’d seen the trailer (below) and was charmed by it in many ways but in particular by a line said by one of the main characters, Sonny, who, as it turns out says this several times throughout the film:
“Everything will be all right in the end. If it’s not alright, then it’s not the end.”
After doing some research, I discovered someone else claiming that this is a quote of the Brazilian writer Fernando Sabino: “No fim tudo dá certo, e se não deu certo é porque ainda não chegou ao fim.” He wasn’t certain of the veracity of this, and neither am I, but since it’s nice to give credit where credit is due, I’ll pass that along. Everywhere else I looked, it said the author of this phrase is unknown.
In any case, I was quite taken with this quote. Why? We tend to get so stuck in situations that aren’t alright. We obsess about our problems. We try to fix them. We focus on what is wrong. I know I am at fault of doing this. When something is not right in my life, I want to find a solution, and this quest can overtake my consciousness.
We forget that life is a process of flowing from one moment to the next, and everything is constantly changing. We never know from moment to moment how our situation will change–possibly for the better. If we focus on the things that aren’t alright in the moment, we perpetuate them. Plus, we forget that in a moment they could be alright. They could perfect themselves, or we could perfect them. God could perfect them for us.
How do we know it is the end? When everything is alright. When will that be? It could be when we are dead–the ultimate end. Until then, we will always find something that isn’t perfect, that needs to be fixed, that is still undone or incomplete. Why? Because the state of being human is one of constant change, incompleteness, struggle to fix what doesn’t feel right, and striving to fill our needs, meet our goals and create our desires. That’s the state of being human. That’s life.
Learning to be in the moment, to live in the moment, helps relieve some of the struggle. Enjoy the good that is right now. Be grateful. This allows us to enjoy the moment and be alright, to feel alright. But it isn’t necessarily the end–the ultimate end.
Each moment is an end in and of itself. It begins and ends faster than we can take note. Situations come to an end. And then we may experience that sense that “everything is alright”–briefly. We can experience it more often by simply taking a breath, being here now, and having faith that, indeed, it will be alright in the end–whenever the end comes. And don’t worry about when that is–in the next moment, in the next moment—over and over again, or at the end of our lives.
Remember: “Everything will be all right in the end. If it’s not alright, then it’s not the end.” And if it’s not alright, ask yourself, “Is it the end?”
