"be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."
--plato
recently, this is my mantra. i repeat it a lot. another volunteer at world peace tonight who didn't really do much work, and spent the whole time talking to someone about how she's having trouble with her boyfriend...leaving me to do much of the work? for her, this is a hard battle. student who tells you they need a college recommendation letter soon, and you have to stop what you're doing to write it? who knows what else is going on in her life. hard battle. person who cuts you in the security line at the airport, yet their ticket (which you can see) shows that their flight doesn't leave for several hours? maybe they never fly - maybe they're anxious. hard battle. person who can't return your emails even though you know they can make time for it? hard battle. person who lets their dog bite you? (i know - leave it alone, claire.) who knows what else is going on in her life. hard battle.
you don't have to believe another person's battle is hard. to you, it might be easy. to them, it might be the most difficult thing they've ever faced. we all fight battles - daily ones, lifetime ones. i can't judge yours, and in turn i hope you won't judge mine. this is what i repeat to myself in those moments where i just want to say GROW UP or MOVE FASTER or DON'T PUT ME OUT JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN'T PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER. be kind. everyone - everyone - is fighting a hard battle.
People who get nailed by dogs. The silver lining here is 1) you got your tetanus up to date, 2) you now know what to do about dog bites, 3) your neighbor likes you because you didn't sue, 4) lots of other good things probably. You should thank your neighbors and their mean dog. I'd like to check out your scars next week.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm feeling all guilty about being a slow email responder. Because, really in the grand scheme of things, I'm not facing all that hard of a battle. More like a slightly trying squirmish.
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