The Battle

Have you ever seen the meme that says, "Be Kind, For everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle?" Did Socrates really say that?
I don't know. Probably not that way, but maybe something like that with a lot more Greek "thees" and "thous"
Anyways.
It's true. the person that seems to have it all together. The person who is always laughing, always has a great attitude. The person with every hair in place, and the person with muscles on their eyebrows.
Everyone is fighting an emotional battle, a mental battle, that they are struggling to gain a foothold on. Nobody actually has it all together. No one.
So it's funny to me, as I watch people, because that is what I do as an introvert. Watch people all the live long day.
But as i watch people, I see that people will say just about anything, to juyst about anyone if they can get an upper hand on them. Including myself. I will throw out a nasty, shitty comment about someone and then need to reel myself in because I remember how frail I am. How susceptible I am to the comments of others.
How much words can hurt me, if weilded with the proper force, and with ill intent.

To follow on the same train off thought as my last post, we show so little care for each other.
Somehow, we have forgotten that it is easy to love people who love us.
But it is a powerful thing when you are kind to the unlovable. It is an act of love to reach out to those who wouldn't pee on you if you were on fire.It's an act of compassion to acknowledge those that the world doesn't recognize. People that the world doesn't see.I've been, and still remain, one of those people. And I think, if we are all honest, we have at least had one moment where we have felt like the lonely.
There isn't a one of us who hasn't felt orphaned by the world.
So what am I saying?
I'm reminding myself, that the pain I feel is not something alien and unique to me. We all share in it.
We all want to be loved, and to be acknowledged, and be believed in.
We all want to be honored for who we are.
Honor is a crazy thing.
Merriam Webster defines it as "respect that is given to someone who is admired."
Imagine if we could find a way to admire people...everyone.
Imagine if we could respect people because they had the bravery to stay on this shithole of a planet. Just because they didn't cut and run.
I think people deserve rewards for that.
I cut and run once. Almost done it many times since then.
We all know the bravery that it takes to keep going.

Remember that we are all people. We aren't tough. We pretend to be tough. Inside we are flesh and blood with a heart and life flowing through our veins. Our toughness is something we put on in order to keep the world from hurting us. to keep us from hurting each other.. The scars we have are there to protect us.

But we are all someone to be admired on the inside.

Be Kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle....

Be Careful With People

I'm not perfect.
*cue shocked gasps, and low whispers*
It's true. My name is Jason and I am not perfect.

For instance, it has been two plus years since I have written on this blog. It still looks bad, and is unorganized...and I'm sorry about it. If I still have an audience, which I doubt, they have since gone the way that every audience goes when they have nowhere to be...away. So I won't be hurting too many people with the shape that this blog is in.

But this isn't why I've started writing here again.

I want to talk about sensitive people and introversion. They are completely the same and different.

I am an introvert. That means, for me, that I seem like the most boring person on Earth, and by that I mean the entire planet. But it also means that though I don't always have something amusing to say, though I am not always the life of the party, and you may find me hard to talk to, I have a whole lot going on in my head. By that I mean that there is a whole world of stuff going on in my brain that I don't tell you.

It also means that if I have decided to tell you what is going on in my head, it is because I trust you to hear it. That may not be a big idea to you, but it is a huge deal to me. People who are extroverted often think that telling everyone everything that they are thinking is not a huge deal (and this is not meant as a bash to anyone) but if they think that, they have never been an introvert. If I have chosen to tell you things, I have done so because you matter. and that is no small thing. Not for me.

Unfortunately,all of this,  for me, means that people don't understand me very much, or even try, because I am sensitive and think about things and cry once in a while. Okay more than once in a while...so shoot me.

It's crazy that we don't have room in this world for people who don't shoot their mouths off every ten seconds. We don't have room for people that don't want to be the life of the party all the time. We don't have room for people who prefer deep conversation over meaningless BS. Who aren't brash and aren't pushy and don't expect that everyone and everything is going to go their way...just because they want it to.

The reason that this has all come up is that I have started to rewrite my "The List of Five " series from the beginning. For some of you, that will be a welcome thing. For some of you, it will be more like "List of what?"

The main character in the series is Richie Lyon, and deep within him lies the heart of a lion, though he doesn't know it. He is one of those sensitive kids who never quite fit in anywhere, never was quite able to make people understand him, never was able to get anyone to notice him.

Me.

Ever known anyone like that?

All I ask is that as you go through life, and you notice people that aren't like you, please be careful. Don't assume. Beneath that quiet, moody person with a perpetual frown, who is hard to talk to, beats the flesh and blood heart of a true warrior. Someone that you would love to know.

Just like Richie.