struggles

there's a perk with bone sigh arts that is just
fabulous.

people will come thru and share part of their
stories with me. i love that.

and the stories shared are so inspirational and
moving.

i read one this morning before i took my walk.
and i thought about it. and i thought about all
of the stories i've heard over the years.

struggle is everywhere. just everywhere.
i got to thinking....it's not the struggle that's
the story. not really.

what's really the story is what people DO with
that struggle.

how they take it and work with and try to get something
from it. try to do something with it.

THAT'S the story.
and THOSE are the people who inspire me.

what makes it where some people can do something with
it and some can't? i really wonder.

and as i was wondering, i walked by one of the guys
workin' in the neighborhood. my neighborhood is filled
with men workin' now as there's so much construction
goin' on.

one of the guys is a young guy i saw for the first time
yesterday. his smile warmed my soul and broke my heart
all at once. he had the same look of someone i care about
very much who couldn't make it out of his struggles.
and every time i think of him, my heart breaks.

there he was again this morning.
same great smile, warm greeting.
i noticed this morning i didn't look directly at him.
i couldn't. he reminded me too much of that person i lost.
i smiled and said hello, but just to the side of him.
not right at him.

funny, huh?

why do some make it and some don't?

and will we ever realize how important we are to each
other? will we ever know that if we don't make it thru,
that it will affect others so much that they can't even
look straight at someone who reminds them of us????

will we ever really get that it's what we DO that matters??
it's how we react, and live, and get thru, and give back
that matters???

it's not what's goin' on around us.
it's what's goin on inside us.

i looked at my own struggles and realized they're nothin'
in comparison. and yet, i didn't want to just throw them
away as nothing. they affect me a lot. and definitely
cause chaos inside me.

so i held them, and was grateful for them.
was so glad they weren't any bigger than they are.
rejoiced in them being a size i could hold.
put them in perspective, acknowledged they had power
over me....but only what i give them.
and decided not to give them any today.