Keeping Faith

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So, they tell me there are worse things in life. And somewhere deep inside, I know they're right. Hell, in this century, with countries vying with each other over nuclear warfare, and suicide bombers blowing craters a meter wide in residential streets, merely existing is an achievement. People get divorced, get cheated on, lose their kids to gang violence, have their houses robbed (sometimes five times over), get jailed for crimes they didn't commit. How many families have lost loved ones in airplane crashes? Yes, there's always somebody out there who has it worse than you. But does that mean that if a person doesn't fall in one of the above-mentioned categories, his or her problems aren't important enough? Their suffering doesn't matter because they haven't been hurt enough, is that it?

I don't think so. Every time someone hurts, no matter how small, it matters. We're all human, and we're all equal, and when one of us hurts, it is a testimony to the human being's ability to feel pain, and can't be made light of. 


How many times have we tried sharing our problems with another only to have the other person accuse us of not being grateful enough? And then there's my personal favourite, You tell your friend something awful that just happened to you, only to have them say, 'Everything happens for a reason! Get over it!' That line has been used to explain away anything and everything under the sun. 

That's not to say  I don't believe in it myself. (Destiny all the way!)

That's not to say you shouldn't be thankful for what God has blessed you with. No. Way. (Just the fact that you're able to read this at all means you're blessed!)    

All I'm trying to say is that nobody has any right to tell you that your problems, your troubles are any less important than their's. It takes a lot of courage for a person to let down his or her defenses and seek therapy (yes, that is what they're really doing), even from their friends; the last thing they need is somebody belittling them. There's a time and place for everything. So next time your friend comes up to you, and complains about how he's failed all his courses this semester, don't tell him right out that it was written in his Fate all along and bound to happen and he should've studied harder! Bring him around gently. Listen before you speak!

Truly:
" Nothing is so strong as gentleness. Nothing is so gentle as real strength."
Frances de Sales

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