We're All a Train Wreck!

 I have to admit something.  Something that I'm a little ashamed to admit actually.  

I have selfishly thought that the traumatic and devastating events in my life are worse than other people's misfortunes.  

There.  I said it.  I have kept score and ranked my adversity above others.  

I'm not sure what got me thinking about this while running today.  I do love how a nice hard run offers clarity to the nonstop narrative in my mind.  It occurred to me that my trials were not necessarily more difficult than others but just disparate.  

And why was I keeping an unofficial score?!  What an ass!

I think we are all unfortunate recipients of bad stuff at some point in life.  Disease.  Death.  Financial disaster.  Deceit.  Lies.  Heartache.  Confusion.  Fear.  Abandonment.  Loss.  The list is nearly unending.

No one is immune to this stuff.  

So, if we are all suffering from some unavoidable and agonizing situations, then aren't we all part of the same train wreck?  And if we're all a train wreck then aren't we all "Even Steven" in the equation of existence?

Let me say, so as no one thinks I've been cold-hearted and uncaring, that I have felt so much empathy to those around me who I see suffer.  Your heart hurts, my heart hurts.  But I have also learned that it is necessary for me to separate myself from their pain in order to not get sucked into the abyss of despair.  

Sound a little dramatic?  Maybe.  But I've been in that abyss before, for far too long, and it is not a fun place.  

I'm a fixer.  I want to fix all that is wrong.  #41-50 of my "50 Things I Have Learned in Life" should be the same lesson, repeated 10 times:  I cannot fix things. 

Life is rough sometimes and it cannot be fixed.   You know what I can do though?  I can remember that we're all going to be part of the train wreck at some point in time and we all just need a little bit of love and grace to get us through when it's our turn. 

Choo-choo, my friends.