Perspective

I have been sitting here mulling over how to write this post, what to say. It all started when I read a comment on my previous post. Here's what it said:

Anonymous said...
In this economy, you should be happy to be able to take a vacation to Hawaii with your family.


I had to laugh out loud a little, and then I carefully went back and read my previous posts about our vacation, trying to find the part where I'd said I wasn't happy about our vacation?

I couldn't find it, but I'm not good at reading my own writing and hearing what it sounds like to other people. I only know my own voice, I know what's going on in my head and in my life and what comes out of my fingers.

Does that even make any sense?

Anyhoodle, I think the comment illustrates a very important point about all of us walking this earth [and the rest of this post is not at all directed at the Anonymous commenter, it's just something I've felt like I needed to write down for a long time now].

Be careful what you assume about people. That old adage about assumptions making an ass out of you and me is probably more true than I'd like it to be.

For instance, have you ever had friends or acquaintances that you just thought lived the perfect life? Maybe their marriage seemed perfect or their family seemed so happy or whatever. And then you find out that their spouse had been cheating on them for a decade with someone they'd had a second family with, and all of this come out after their untimely death in a car accident? This is just an example of some whackadoo story I might have heard.

Or have you known anyone who just really seemed by all appearances to be totally white bread, and then you are shocked to find out they'd been living a double life of crime or depravity or what-have-you? And all of that came out after this person had been murdered while searching for drugs or sex or something in the middle of the day on a workday? That one happened to someone, too. Not someone I know, but someone I know knows the person. Knew the person.

Anyway, I am blessed to live the life I live. I love it, I don't take too many minutes of it for granted [maybe five minutes once, and I regret four of them]. But it certainly isn't no cake walk and while I don't talk about my struggles on this blog anymore (yikes, that was a bad idea eh?), I still got em. And they're whacked out. But they're mine.

I read a quote once that I can't remember for the life of me. But the jist of it is to go easy on people, because you never know what burden they carry with them. I'm not asking that courtesy for myself, I'm just saying. Be mindful that others may be in pain. Be kind. Karma is a wonderful thing.

- H