Some days it’s very hard to sidestep the amount of grief, pain, hardship, and sadness that can surround you. You try not to get too close, to keep a boundary of some sort so grief of others doesn’t accidentally bump into you and infect you. You do well enough by reading people’s faces that may suck the life out of you and avoiding direct contact with them like they have a plague. You can turn off the tv to your city being torn apart by anger, confusion, and blame. You would be too selfish not to attend a visitation of a friends father. And then you hear about one of your favorite comedians somehow not being able to hear his own voice of laughter. And you allow your mind to drift towards the amount of people sadness you’ve experienced in the last 72 hours and you feel like you are weighted down by some sort of gravity driven muck. A dementor like veil is cast around you and you feel so terribly terribly tired all the time. All the while you just want to wake up and see everyone laughing, singing, and walking on sunshine.
But that’s not reality.
At some point you have to find a depth in yourself you weren’t even sure was there and start moving through the sadness meeting it head on but not letting it hold you back. It may slow you down as a part of life that we all endure but sadness can’t be allowed to hold us back.
Hopefully others start to notice the path you are beginning to create through the very gray blandess of despair and will follow you bringing along fellow wounded warriors. I think this might be true leadership. Setting a solid pace forward during trying times. Not being afraid of negative situations and circumstances. But to keep leading forward, to keep moving towards some sort of better tomorrow and not leaving anyone behind.
The Rabid Mime 