walk away

You sit in a nice restaurant, enjoying lunch. A few tables from you is a man, alone… broken. You try not to stare too blatantly at him. Every now and then you steal a peek. You wonder what’s breaking him so terribly. You wonder if you might be able to help. You don’t want to intrude, but it really seems he needs someone. You finish your lunch and leave the restaurant. You decided he probably wanted to be alone.


In another story, you play in the cold snow with your friends. You see a woman walk across a frozen river. Without warning she disappears beneath the ice. You rush to the river and witness something you won’t ever forget. Underneath the ice you see a woman struggling as her life is slipping away. Sadly the current has pulled her away from the hole she fell through. You run down stream and start bashing your fists against the ice. Remarkable, you punch a hole through the ice. You reach into the icy waters. Your eyes are shooting all over the place frantically trying to find her. Just before she passes you by, you notice her and grab at her… In that moment you realize this is her last chance of surviving. You realize that if you miss, she is dead. You are the only one in the world who can save her now. In this fleeting second an entire world can be created… or destroyed.


___________________


The situations in these stories are very similar. However in the one, we decide to run and help. The other, we walk away. It’s so much easier to just walk away. When we’re not confronted by the urgency of the situation, we excuse ourselves for walking away. Next time you see a stranger in pain; try pretending the urgency is dire. Will you walk away?

before you go

Something died inside you last night. While you were sleeping, the darkness devoured you. Every step you’ve taken for the last few years has been more difficult than the one before. But now, this morning… it is too much. It’s not that you don’t want to go on, it’s that you can’t go on. You won’t go on. It’s over. Before you die, you’ll to go to a priest.

Even monsters see a priest before they are put down.

The priest isn’t what you expected; he’s young, happy and full of life… You hate him! It’s like his beautiful smile taunts your broken soul. The contrast between his delightful heart and your sinister spirit is painfully pathetic! To make things worse, he said exactly what you wanted to hear, but never expected from him “You are neither here nor there. There is no place for you to rest your head. You have nothing to live for.” You stare at him with blank eyes. He smiles. “I will die for my God, and hence, I have something to live for. What are you living for?”

_____________

Do yourself a favor, answer that question honestly.

What are you living for?

save me

Gather around boys and girls, for today we have a guest appearance on my blog. LazyKing from Bored... Get unbored brings us the following...


This is the story about a young man named Eric...

Everything in Eric's life was going really well. His character spoke of power and grace. He did well to hide his flaws, and made friends wherever his feet led him. He is the type of guy you want to have as a brother… a friend… a lover.

One day after work, Eric took stock of his life. He noticed something was slowly changing; he was starting to lose his "magic". Life wasn't treating him as well as before. His friends joked about it and called it "bad luck". Still Eric didn't stop being optimistic and kept smiling. Unfortunately that "bad luck" continued. In a few years time, it turned into something worse. All aspects of his life seemed to turn to ruins. He lost his confidence, self-esteem and values. Everything that he worked so hard for was wiped out. His attempts to make things better failed miserably each time. Meanwhile, he became used to his "bad luck". He’s not even surprised anymore when something bad happens to him.

Eric's family has grown very concerned about him. He tries to hide the truth and tell them that he’s ok, but they see through it. He’s thought about giving up but that will hurt everyone that loves him. So Eric finally decided to go to a psychologist. He shares his life story while lying on the comfy couch. He believes he can be fine again, he just needs to hear the right words to help him believe in himself and in the future. He believes there is a magical combination of words that will throw a switch deep inside his soul… and turn him on again. Looking for answers he stares into the shrink's eyes… “What are those words?”

___________

If you were the psychologist what would you say to Eric?

i will suffer you

Today’s story is about a man who can see into the future. The passing of time holds no surprises for him. So when his fiancé walked out on him, you were very surprised. “Did you not see the future? Didn’t you know she was going to leave you when you met her?” With a decent amount of pain in his eyes, he assures you “Before I met her I knew this day would come. When I was young I looked deep into my future. I played out all the possibilities in my mind. When I was done, my heart drowned in sorrow. I realized I could never love a woman the way I wanted to. Before I met my ex-fiancé I saw she was going to leave me. Then maybe out of sheer boredom I looked deeper into my future. I looked at what would happen after she left me. Then I comprehended something amazing… after she left me I would be able to meet a woman I could love the way I wanted to. I realized I needed to suffer the bad, so I could truly cherish the good.”

________________________

The bad relationships we suffer make the good ones all the more worthwhile!

try harder

You really enjoyed being a grief counselor last week, so today you’re a psychiatrist. Luke and Paul are two very unique individuals. Luke has been diagnosed with chronic depression, whereas Paul suffers from chronic depression. Yes it’s the same thing, but Luke refuses to suffer from this.

Paul walks into your office and lies down on your stereotypical shrink couch. He explains to you in meticulous detail how low his serotonin levels are. He needs you to understand how depressed he is. He expresses his “dark thoughts” and how easy it is for him to give in. When he takes some time to breathe, you interject with some positive thoughts. Immediately you are shot down “Doc, you don’t understand how difficult it is to be me. All I want to do is go lie in a ditch somewhere and stop breathing.” When the session is finally over you almost want to go join Paul in that ditch of his.

The next day you page through Luke’s medical report. You shudder when you notice that his serotonin levels are even worse than Paul’s… you’re not very optimistic about today. Luke walks in, gives you a courteous greeting and lies down. During the next 40 minutes Luke will challenge your perception of human strength. He will tell you how painfully he breaks, but he won’t stop talking until he tells you how he gets up afterwards. He will describe the darkness and how it swallows him whole. Then he’ll tell you how he fights with tears streaming down his face. He will not go quietly into that dark night! You detect a hint of pride each time he talks about overcoming his darkness. He smiles “If my condition has taught me one thing, it’s that I have to work so much harder just to smile. But what I taught myself is… I can smile… and if I try really, really hard, I can laugh!”

________________

We all have weaknesses; do you use yours as an excuse to do badly, or motivation to try harder?

break me

Today you’re a grief counselor. Matt is coming in later today, he lost his mother 3 weeks ago. Out there in the real world he’s a rock on which his family rests. But in here, he breaks. In two hours Matt will walk into your office with all the strength anyone could ever ask for. He’s going sit down and say these words: “I don’t want to talk today, I just want to cry for a while” Don’t do anything, just sit there and watch the man become a boy. Thirty minutes after, he will get up and smile at you. I hope you’re ready for today; because you’re not going to believe how powerful Matt is when he leaves your office!

_______________

We all need to break now and then. Find a safe place, and don’t hold back!

feed me

In today’s story you’ll play the role of a drug addict. I’m sorry it has to come to this but I’m running out of ideas so please go with it... Thanx.

It’s Friday morning. Work seems to suffocate you, but you don’t mind all that much. Tonight, the whole world and everything in it will fade away. Tonight all your problems and fears will slide off the canvas that is reality. That is the only thought that keeps you sane. That is the only truth that you care to believe.

The needle glides with pleasure into your vein. The little syringe is filled with promises of a painless world. As you press down, you smile. This is life! This is all you will ever need. The whole world can go to hell as long as you can inject meaning directly into your soul. That is what you’re doing now, isn’t it?

It’s Monday morning and you feel a little worse than last Monday. Each week seems to bring with it new levels of despair. Each time you awake from your slumber, the world seems a little worse off than before. You struggle valiantly through the week, but Thursday night, you finally fall prey to your hunger. You close your eyes and drown in your heaven. This is the reason you were born. Your entire life was only to get you to this point. You say a quick prayer and thank God for tonight…

It’s Monday again… Why are you still alive? Why is your body so damn resilient? You weren’t supposed to wake up. You get up and get dressed. You pretend you’re ready for life, but you’re not. You're completely empty. You sit on your bed and rest your head in your hands. Tears slowly roll down your arms. It’s not enough anymore. The highs can’t sustain you anymore. You feel like a starving kid in Africa who barely eats once a week. You grab an old syringe, fill it with air and inject yourself. Either the hunger kills you, or you do. As your body starts to convulse, you realize your soul is as empty as the syringe. You thought you were filling it, instead… your habit kept you occupied while your soul slowly drained away.

________

We all attempt to fill our souls with meaning. The question is… are you still hungry when morning comes? Are you really filling your soul with meaning, or are you just occupying yourself, so that you don’t notice how empty your soul really is?