Sometimes The World Seems Hard

Sometimes The World Seems Hard                

By John W. Vander Velden

Sometime the world seems hard. Sometimes it is.

Few get through life unmarked. Most of us get some cuts along the way. Those cuts leave scars that remind us that life isn’t always painless. And though nearly everyone has those ragged patches where flesh has bound to flesh we are also cut by invisible blades. Blades of heartless comments, or cruel remarks. Blades of failure. Blades of unfairness. Blades of loss. Those blades leave scars as well, only those marks can not be seen with the eye.

Rarely do we speak of the marks we carry. We do not consider them medals of valor in the battlefield called life. Most often we believe them to be failings or weaknesses, private matters that are no ones business but our own. Yet we might understand others better if we shared those scars. For locked away within us all, are the same kind of wounds others have felt.

Look inside and see your own scars. Look inside and open yourself up to another’s wounds.

In a world that has so much hate and anger, finger pointing, and the, it’s us against them attitudes. In a time when it seems only the loudest shouts are heard, while the cry of a child doesn’t even raise an eyebrow. In a society that is certain that each of us is abused by everyone different than we are. In an age that asks why should we help others because nobody has helped us? Have we become so internal, dwelling so intently upon the differences that divide that we are unable to see the vast magnitude of what we all have in common?

Sometimes the world seems hard, and sometimes it is. But it’s not just hard for you. It’s not just hard for me. And it is true that it might be less hard on some, but it is also true it is a great deal harder on some others. Few get through life unmarked, but it is up to each of us to see the scars, and care…To hear the crying child and to act. To help a wrinkled and bent man through the door.  To share our time with the lonely. To see those the world wishes to hide away and offer a bit of the respect they too deserve. But most of all to forgive!

Sometimes the world is hard, but it’s not you job to make it harder. Few leave this life unmarked…don’t be the invisible blade that slices at the heart and soul of another...

(430 Words) 3-20-2019