Life is a series of experiences, a collective including significant events such as birth, marriage, death or the next fun outing. There are many moments and meanings for us in them.

‘Moments’ are opportunities that can stretch ourselves and other times comfort or confront. If moments are good, we feel alive and human. If difficult, such as the loss of a loved one, we need down time.

We can chose to live in the moment, to seize a moment, or run from it, or let it run over us.

As a young adult, while walking with my parents along Circular Quay to the Opera House we saw a bloke in a wheelchair ahead of us . He was waving to passers-by to get their attention. He was ignored as people walked a wide circle around him. My parents went to do the same. I got hold of my feelings of wanting to avoid any inconvenience and stopped to see what was up. The bloke’s arms were tired out, and he just wanted a push. So we headed up the long walkway to the Opera House, and I got to meet a grateful bloke. I felt more human by this simple act of caring, and relieved that it hadn’t been as hard to care as I’d expected.

Nicole Kidman, the Australian actress, like most of us, wants to live life to the fullest. In an interview, in 1993, she said, “I don’t want to wake up when I’m 80 years old and say, “Why didn’t I do that? It’s all about having fun in the end; isn’t it?” So for her, at that time, fun included skydiving, a 300 km/hr spin in Tom Cruise’s racing car (she has since remarried to Keith Urban), or swimming with whales.

In the midst of her own insecurities, and sense of loss of drive at times, there is an actress who enjoys her acting. “All I want to do is act”, and be a person working at good relationships with those she deals with, making the most of ‘moments.’

How does she see getting to the top? “The whole cris-cross of events was just luck. It was luck the way I look, luck that I met Terry Hayes (Aust. Film Industry), luck I was the right age when DEAD CALM was being made, luck that some other 22-year old Australian actress hadn’t decided to come to America”.

Yet when it comes to her upbringing: “I thank God I was raised in Australia”. I wonder if opportunities are more than just luck. After all life has a complexity about it. What is your take on life? And, who is God? It’s worth a thought.