There was one night I drove home a few weeks ago. It was only 8:30 pm and there was a homeless man sitting on the corner by a traffic light. He was sitting hunched over and slowly bobbing his upper body and torso as if he were flimsy. He could easily have been passed off as drunk. Naturally, I happened to see him but quickly overlooked him sitting there.
However, this night that traffic light happened to take ages for the green arrow to show and I found myself looking over at the man again... I started to tear up.
This sudden change might confuse you. But tears truly began to well up in my eyes. And the reason for this was that I realized he wasn’t drunk at all, he was simply tired and trying to stay awake with all the strength he had left in his mal-nourished body. That was it. The man was tired and falling asleep as he sat hunched over. He wasn’t drunk. And he wasn’t high. He was tired.
Here’s what got me. This man was old enough to be my father, yet he’s alone and helpless.
We will never know what happened in his life, like what went wrong, but you know what? At some point, this man had a mother and father. At some point, he fell in love with someone who was special to him. At some point, he might’ve had kids. He might even be a grandfather whose grandkids will never know him.
Yet, nothing seems to be able to change the fact that in his golden years, he spends every shivering night on ice-cold concrete and every smoldering day on the burning ground.
Can you imagine some of the overwhelming thoughts that may go through his mind? The feeling of defeat, embarrassment, loneliness, brokenness, complacency, and that just a few he may have felt, maybe daily.
Do you know what the craziest part is though? He’s still there. He’s still there living his life one day at a time when he could find every reason not to.
We are so quick to complain about what we don’t have or about what’s going wrong, but when last have you stopped and thought about what you do have? When last have you stopped to think of what’s going right? Yes, we all have our problems and disappointments, but we have so many blessings too.
We think blessings have to be huge things, but sometimes it’s the warmth that your best friend makes you feel when she’s there for you when you need it most. Sometimes it’s the warm meal your mom cooked for you because she knows it’s your favorite. Sometimes it’s the advice your father gives you that nobody else would have. Sometimes it’s your big brother who tells you he loves you or that he’s proud of you.
It’s in the little things.
We are so quick to expect certain things to happen when in reality, there’s no guarantee that they will so when they do, it should warm our hearts. Instead, we go about life with indifference. Why?
When we forget what we have is when we get into trouble. We look at everything that we’re not happy about and we make it that so much worse in our heads because we are so consumed with what we don’t have that we forget others have less. And sometimes it’s so much less that it’s only the ragged and dirty clothes on their back.
Here are 2 reasons why we have become this way
1. We have become a self-consumed society that unless something is directly affecting us we don’t seem to care that it affects other people. We might think, “that sucks, but I’m glad it’s not me.” We may not even have thought a single thing, actually.
2. We’ve seen it all and nothing’s new anymore. Can you even remember the first time you saw a gory or painfully sad movie scene? Think about how much less it affects you now because it’s not so new to you anymore. The same thing happens in life. We hear about all the tragedies that happen and we look the other way or we go “oof,” and carry on with our lives. This happens to be our unfortunate reality. I’m not saying you should get sad every time you see the slightest thing but think about it. Just think.
The homeless man is just one example, but we can see it everywhere these days.
It’s easy to look at someone like that and say oh they just messed up their life or they made bad choices and got themselves into living on the streets. But sometimes it’s more than that.
Here’s my challenge to you:
1. Write down 5 everyday things you are grateful for.
2. Pay attention to when you feel desensitized again.
3. Next time you see someone going through a hardship, truly try to place yourself in their shoes and pay attention to how that might make you feel.
READ: Gratitude... The Antidote for Unhappiness
Thank you for reading this post. It’s a little different, and I’d love to know what you think about it so feel free to contact me or just comment below. I hope you enjoyed it and Happy December! You’re a gem! With sincerity.
Broken to Beautiful. Where Your Pain Becomes Your Power.