I've missed blogging.  This one is way off the beaten path for me.  My other forays into the blogging world were more commercial in nature.  Artsy, showing re-dos and resets, sale set-ups, lots of eye candy.  But they contained little of my thoughts.  Don't get me wrong.  I loved it.  It was fun, but the world doesn't wait for us to stop having fun, and there's a place for more serious matters.

I found myself asking..."When did I become wise?". You know- like your grandmother- making pronouncements that were startling when you paused to think about them.  I found myself doing that.  That's when I realized I'd graduated to crone.

These thoughts are allowed to flesh out in an old person mind, purely because we have the time to ponder various situations.  I find that almost everything in life has about a million facets.  Facets that I simply didn't have time to explore when I was young, running after kids, working, trying to get by from day to day without major mishap.

I pondered this - "Be kind, for everyone you meet is carrying a heavy load." I used that as a starting point in every interaction for some months and was amazed at what I found in myself, and in those people whose loads I never saw prior to conscious thought about what those loads may be.

What seems inconsequential to one person may be the end of the world to another.  One person may even be happy about an event that is catastrophic to someone else.  An example:  two men of about the same age, working at the same job.  One newly married, the other newly divorced.  The newlywed, extatic about upcoming overtime because the extra pay will allow them to get ahead.  The divorced man, totally deflated because the extra hours mean he won't see his young child as much for the next month.

I imagined what the world would be like if we all took the time to see each others invisible burdens.  And what would happen if we cared enough about each other to try and ease the load?  There are billions of humans on this earth.  Plenty to take care of each other, certainly.  Mother Teresa said something like- the problem with human beings is that we limit our family circle to too few.  Not an exact quote, but close enough.  One little old woman at a keyboard probably won't change the world, but doing nothing never made positive change, that's a fact.

In closing, I'd like to challenge anyone who took the time to read this.  Expand your circle.  Take time to see the invisible burdens and give encouragement if nothing else.  If you can ease their burden, do it.

If you yourself are carrying a trunk full of lead, know you're not alone in your struggles.  All of humanity is facing something in their lives, even those whose lives appear perfect to the rest of the world.