Post by wyndwalker on Jan 26, 2006 12:09:20 GMT -5
It occurs to me, while pondering other things, that it is incredible how large, wide, and diverse our world is. I mean...in the US alone, we have nearly 300 million people. Three...hundred...million...individual stories, tales, heartaches, loves, interests....
None of us will ever know more than even the smallest fraction of those stories....all of the trials and tribulations that go on in the lives of all of the different people we pass by each day, not to mention all of the people we will never even cross paths with. Often we get bogged down in feeling sorry for ourselves, perhaps too self-absorbed in what's happening in our own lives to even stop to consider how lucky we are to even have a vague sliver of normalcy existing in our own lives, as opposed to thousands of others around us.
That guy you see standing on the street holding a cardboard sign asking for money...he has a story. He may have family members that love and miss him somewhere and wish that he would pick up the phone and let them know he's alive...or he may simply be completely alone in the world. Maybe while you or I lie in our warm beds and stress over all of our "huge problems/dilemmas", he lays his head down upon concrete and cries himself to sleep, far removed from the rest of humanity, where no one else can see or feel his pain. In the morning, we'll get up and go to our jobs or school...and he'll wake up and simply wish that he was you or I.
I've been guilty myself of way too much self-pity...unhappy over things that I can't control, whining to myself and friends because things aren't perfect, stressing because I'm in a period of transition and don't know exactly what tomorrow will bring. And it's time for me to just stop, and be glad for what I do have. I have friends who care about me, I have a place to express my feelings when I feel the need to (here, even!
), I have my health, and I have my family.
By contrast, right now...some kid is sitting on a Greyhound bus, tears streaming down his/her face, running away from home, without even knowing why....somebody is sitting in the mangled wreckage of a car accident that just happened, shattering every dream and aspiration that they had for themselves and their lives....someone is sobbing and trying desperately to hold onto their last sliver of humanity because they just found out their "soul mate" has been cheating on them...someone is making funeral preparations for the person who was the strength that guided them in their life....someone just had their doctor tell them that the HIV test was positive...someone just found out that they're losing the job that supports them, their spouse, and their four kids....and someone is just sitting in a corner crying, because their life has simply run too far out of control for them to handle anymore, and wondering if they really have the strength to pull the trigger.
Misery loves company, and it hurts me on days like this, where I empathize with the pain of the world around me. Yet, it also reminds me that sometimes I just need to shut the hell up whining about what isn't right in my life, and be thankful for everything that is. Be thankful for my friends, and be hopeful for tomorrow. Because good or bad, we never know what it's going to bring....
None of us will ever know more than even the smallest fraction of those stories....all of the trials and tribulations that go on in the lives of all of the different people we pass by each day, not to mention all of the people we will never even cross paths with. Often we get bogged down in feeling sorry for ourselves, perhaps too self-absorbed in what's happening in our own lives to even stop to consider how lucky we are to even have a vague sliver of normalcy existing in our own lives, as opposed to thousands of others around us.
That guy you see standing on the street holding a cardboard sign asking for money...he has a story. He may have family members that love and miss him somewhere and wish that he would pick up the phone and let them know he's alive...or he may simply be completely alone in the world. Maybe while you or I lie in our warm beds and stress over all of our "huge problems/dilemmas", he lays his head down upon concrete and cries himself to sleep, far removed from the rest of humanity, where no one else can see or feel his pain. In the morning, we'll get up and go to our jobs or school...and he'll wake up and simply wish that he was you or I.
I've been guilty myself of way too much self-pity...unhappy over things that I can't control, whining to myself and friends because things aren't perfect, stressing because I'm in a period of transition and don't know exactly what tomorrow will bring. And it's time for me to just stop, and be glad for what I do have. I have friends who care about me, I have a place to express my feelings when I feel the need to (here, even!
), I have my health, and I have my family.By contrast, right now...some kid is sitting on a Greyhound bus, tears streaming down his/her face, running away from home, without even knowing why....somebody is sitting in the mangled wreckage of a car accident that just happened, shattering every dream and aspiration that they had for themselves and their lives....someone is sobbing and trying desperately to hold onto their last sliver of humanity because they just found out their "soul mate" has been cheating on them...someone is making funeral preparations for the person who was the strength that guided them in their life....someone just had their doctor tell them that the HIV test was positive...someone just found out that they're losing the job that supports them, their spouse, and their four kids....and someone is just sitting in a corner crying, because their life has simply run too far out of control for them to handle anymore, and wondering if they really have the strength to pull the trigger.
Misery loves company, and it hurts me on days like this, where I empathize with the pain of the world around me. Yet, it also reminds me that sometimes I just need to shut the hell up whining about what isn't right in my life, and be thankful for everything that is. Be thankful for my friends, and be hopeful for tomorrow. Because good or bad, we never know what it's going to bring....