This past week has been an eye opening experience for me. I guess I’ve lived a sheltered life, but never in my dreams would I thought I would witness so many Americans standing so divided and displaying such hateful attitudes. Hopefully, I’m not the only one whose heart has been disturbed by this. This post is a “Throwback Thursday” post for me. I wrote this on Aug. 14, 2014 and posted on my son’s Caring Bridge site, but it still pertains to current situations.
Many have probably seen it on Facebook because I’ve seen it shared multiple times, the quote “Be kind. For Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.”
Here are a couple personal experiences from the past few weeks I want to share:
Experience #1: I was driving home one afternoon and came to an intersection where I had the right of way when the light turned green. A man, coming from the other direction, was waiting to turn left, had the yield on green signal. My light turned green before I had a chance to come to a complete stop, so I went ahead and started through the intersection (you know, since I had the right of way). The guy waiting to turn left had his head and arm hanging out the window, looked me straight in the eyes and yelled some profane words at the top of his lungs. I could hear these awful words over the music I was listening to in my car with the windows rolled up. It was one of those days when I was having a hard day and a lot on my mind regarding my son & our upcoming medical trip in Memphis. I’m not a confrontational type of person, so it would have been completely out of character for me, but for a brief moment, I thought…”You know what? I should just turn around and give that guy a piece of my mind!” Well, of course, I didn’t actually track him down, but at that point in time, it would have felt good to lash out. But, really…what would that have contributed to the situation?
Experience #2: While my son stayed with his grammy, my daughter and I took a quick trip to Wal-Mart yesterday (mostly to escape for a few minutes from the extreme emotions going on at home due to the steroids my son was taking). We were standing in one of the lanes for 20 items or less and I was trying to buy 4 items. The cashier in the lane next to me had just opened up her lane, looked over at me and said “I can help you over here.” So, I quickly stepped over and began to check out. At this point, I overheard a mom start to loudly tell her two teenage daughters how rude she thought it was that I jumped over there to check out. OK…First, the cashier motioned me over and second, there wasn’t anyone else unloading things so I didn’t think I was cutting anyone off. I found it extremely unsettling that the mom would act that way over something so small, especially in front of her kids and my child. Anyway, as I mentioned…It’s never my intention to purposely tick people off and I want to believe most people don’t go around purposely trying to make others mad, but sometimes it happens without us even realizing it.
When my son was first diagnosed, we spent almost 7 weeks at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN. When we were there, we lived a MUCH slower paced life. After being isolated from our normal pace of life for almost 7 weeks, then coming home to “regular” life, my eyes were opened to how our society in general always seems in a hurry. So many are walking around tight fisted and jaws clenched, ready for a chance to tell someone off as if everyone is out to purposely ruin their day. I admit, my first inclination when I feel I have been wronged is to get defensive. After all, I’m human and that seems to be a natural reaction. But, as humans we also have the choice to go with our “natural” reaction or to choose to react differently than the rest of the world. Is the use of profanity or publicly cutting down someone’s character really solving anything? No. It definitely won’t teach our children kindness, compassion, love, peace, patience, self-control, etc…
Those people I mentioned above had no idea what we had been dealing with the past 5 months or even the past 5 days, just as I had never walked a day in their shoes and didn’t know what they were facing in life, either. All I know is this world would be a much better place if we all would try to slow down, think before we speak OR react, try to understand that each one of us are facing our own battles and maybe just struggling to make it through the day. What if all Americans chose to demonstrate more love and mercy towards others rather than spreading harsh words and hate–regardless of whether someone leans left or right on an issue? All I know is I am thankful our God is loving and merciful because I know for sure that I don’t want what I deserve.
If you’re up for joining me in a little challenge, let’s all try to slow down and enjoy our Thursday! ❤️
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” Matthew 5:7
The following link is to a video I found on You Tube. It takes place in a hospital, but it easily shows what might be going through the minds of people we pass on the highway or in our local grocery store everyday.
tshirtandyogapants.com 