A man walks up to my window this morning as I am dropping a friend off at the train station.
We are in the middle of saying our goodbyes. As he walks up, my mind whispers of the inconvenience that he is going to cause me. I feel safe behind my window. I don’t want to be sold anything. I don’t want to give him anything. Whatever he is bringing, I don’t want it.
I stare at him for an extra moment before rolling down the window. I want him to know that he is an inconvenience and that people shouldn’t be walking up to people in cars in parking lots.
I roll the window down. He points to a piece of paper in his hand. It is a medical form. It has a diagnosis or something like that on it. He says he can’t read what it says. I sift through the chicken scratch and find the words -
My heart drops, hitting every bone and organ on the way to the floor.
I read it out out to him as best I can and hand him back the paper. He thanks me and slowly walks away. My chest aches for him. I turn to my friend and we finish saying our goodbyes. Then I just sit there. I sit with the weight of this man’s day on my chest.
I get out of the car and scan the parking lot. He is nowhere. I do a lap, but he is long gone. I say a prayer for him as I slowly walk back to my car. I hope that he will be healed. I hope that he doesn’t feel alone. I hope that he isn’t alone. I hope that he knows that he can make it through.
I could have told him these things in person, but I didn’t. I was too self absorbed to respond to a hurting stranger, even one knocking on my window.
Don’t get lost in yourself. Don’t become too focused on your own story, your own getting from A to B, to miss out on speaking hope into someone else’s pain. Someone you meet today might not know how to get through today. Someone you meet today may not be planning on making it through today, or planning on making it from A to B, or might feel like it isn’t worth trying.
Look them in the eye or take them by the hand or text them or call them or something or anything. Remind them of who they are and what they mean to you. Remind them that they are important. Show them that they are not alone and that they are worth fighting for.
Let compassion be your first response.
And if your today feels too heavy for a tomorrow, let me tell you a few things.
Take a deep breath. There is hope. You are not alone. You are a beauty. There is a reason that you are alive. I don’t know why days like today happen, but they do. I really wish they didn’t, for your sake and mine. But I guarantee you that there are people that need you. You mean the world to someone.
So stick around, ok? Find someone to cry with or find someone to laugh with. You deserve it. You are worth it. You deserve every ounce of love that exists to be shoved into your heart by the strong hands of someone who loves you.
“We choose to stay, because we are stories still going. Because there is still some time for things to turn around, time to be surprised and time for change. We stay because no one else can play our part.
Life is worth living. We’ll see you tomorrow.”
