Thursday, July 1, 2010

Swing Sets and Subtle Lies

Kasey was her name, a blond girl who was playing by herself on the swings in the elementary school playground. I, in my moment of fashion independence and with Punky Brooster influence, was in double layer socks of different colors. She looked lonely, I offered friendship – we were in kindergarten. I don’t remember that first conversation verbatim, but it basically consisted of let’s play.

We tend to think when we are lonely that we are alone in that, compounding the loneliness. When we are hurting, we think that it’s unique to us and we are the only ones who have such pain or suffer in the silence or complaints of life. When we suffer at the hands of someone else, we often think we are alone and that no one else would understand. What a subtle lie that is.
Yes, a lie! Come on, think about it! It’s like a mirage that is made of tissue paper. From far away it looks pretty convincing, but up close, we can see that something is just a bit off. We all get lonely, we all have hurts, we all feel hurt due to someone else. Does the type of injury or frequency or severity vary? Yes. Does the type of remedy needed or timeline for healing vary? Yes. Are we alone? No!
I think it was a little easier in kindergarten, but the lesson learned then is still a relevant one today. Offer friendship, you may just get something wonderful in return.

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