[Man I hope this one makes sense. If it doesn't leave a note. I'd love to discuss...]
Right now there are people dying…or standing over a grave missing someone they counted on…or hearing test results with a lump in their throat…or scrambling to find their child who was “here just a second ago.”
Right now there are people getting married…graduating…celebrating a job promotion…sharing an easy cup of coffee with their best friend…making love to their soul mate…or drifting off to sleep in their favorite comforter.
Right now some people are trying to escape the craziness of a too big family…while someone else is alone in their too big house…filled with ghosts of lost loves and a future that seems too sad.
I saw a glove-less man struggling to walk on a snow covered sidewalk the other day. He was not old…but his legs did not function like mine. His cane was useless on the ice. I sat in my warm car 3 spots back from the stop light with 2 more cars behind me. We all watched…or at least I did…as he gutted his way to the corner against a mean wind. I felt sad and fortunate at the same time.
Trading Places.
I sometimes wonder what he’s doing now right now. Is he alone? Is he surrounded by a family that loves and cares for him? Is everything a struggle for him?
I will never know the answers to these questions…but I do know that I wouldn’t trade places with him for anything. Nor would I trade places with you…or Paul McCartney…or that guy who has more money than God. Not anyone.
Sure…I might trade situations with others if that were possible…but I still want to live my life as “me.”
I suspect that’s true for everyone. The people huddling over a fresh grave…first time parents welcoming a child into their world…or a glove-less man bending against the January wind to get to a busy crosswalk.
It’s about as close as I can come to describing what a “soul” is. It’s that part of us that knows no matter what we’re going through we wouldn’t trade our personal existence for anyone else’s. Our life situation? Maybe. ”Me” for you? Not on your life. (No disrespect intended. I’m sure you are all very nice people;) )
Even through all the good and bad times I have been thru in the past few years I agree with you I wouldn’t change it to be anyone else. Even when times were dark and I was sad.
.-= Mel Majoros´s last blog ..Can’t Find Your Words? Say Chemo Brain. =-.
Is that kind of strange? It is/was to me…to realize that “I wouldn’t change it to be anyone else.” Thanks, Mel! Thanks for everything…
really well-written. i wish we all could be grateful for our own souls and understand the blessings we are given.
.-= patty´s last blog ..the undoing of christmas =-.
Thanks, Patty. This looks like your first visit. I love your site…especially your “The Undoing of Christmas” post. Thank you also for saying this post was “really well-written.” I’m needy…and that makes me feel pretty cool;)
.-= akoehn´s last blog ..I Got Soul. =-.
It DOES make sense!! And you are right, sometimes we wish to trade “situations” but each soul is unique (although some say we are all apart of a WHOLE…) and so is each experience. Trading places wouldn’t assure anything, because Life happens to everyone! Are some people unfortunate? Maybe. In this life time. But maybe, the man without the glove has been through many struggles and maybe, even though he is cold and tired, he fights. What doesn’t kill us make us stronger.
Good one Andy!
.-= Helen´s last blog ..#9. Radiohead – In Rainbows =-.
Whew! I’m glad it makes sense, Helen. That’s true about the man w/o the gloves, isn’t it? (I believe we are all a part of the whole…thanks to your book recommendation. I keep mentioning that…but it’s still true. I read it every night.) Tak, Helen! (I think that’s right. I have the world’s worst memory.)
.-= akoehn´s last blog ..The Notebook. =-.
Well thought of…and very invoking. Thank you for your writing and opening minds.
I have enjoyed your writings and have been searching for the meaning “soul”
Introspectively speaking at least to me your soul is not an emotion nor is it a thought. Does a soul live deep within the thoughts of a mind? Probably not…Should it be so easy to change a person’s soul by changing their thoughts?
Smiles and tears, would it be so easy to culminate our visceral experiences and call them our soul? I look to the mind as a muscle as you will. As aging or illness affects either, the soul does not diminish but our actions and thoughts may very well change. The sometimes unseen bright light that shines in each of us continues to shine even when our precious moments fade. Shining the same as when we were first held by our mothers. Our souls are shared together even when our thoughts circumstances/situations are different. By seeing with your eyes open, I believe that for one small second you probably did trade places with the man with no gloves…
Take care
Aaron…wow…what a great comment. I don’t think our soul is an emotion or thought either. Those change from one moment to the next…nothing really permanent about that. Laura’s (my wife)”bright light” is still with us…even though we can’t be with her physically. (Which sucks I might add…)
Traded places with the glove-less man? That gave me goose bumps.
Thanks so much! Please drop me an email or stop by anytime. (Do you have a blog?)
.-= akoehn´s last blog ..The Notebook. =-.
Great thoughts Andy. I wonder if our desire to truly be who we really are is an indication that we love ourself? And I wonder about those who do not seem to love themselves – would they trade their soul for another’s?
.-= Kansas Bob´s last blog ..These are the Comments that try Men’s Souls.. =-.
I guess I just assumed everyone feels the same way…that they wouldn’t trade “themselves” but just their situations. I suppose I’m naive in that way. I feel sorry for anyone that just wants “out” altogether. That’s a pretty heavy question…which is why I love this sort of stuff. Makes me think.
Thanks for the visit…as usual.
Very Nice thought. MOST wouldn’t trade places, but we can know what life is like for others just by listening and wanting these strangers in our life. You get to know people by experiences and that is how you see through their eyes and walk in their place. Maybe next time a man is in the cold and your in your car with gloves give him a ride or your gloves or maybe just your time.
Hey Hope…
I thought about the ride thing but that’s why I mentioned I was in a line @ the stop light. I couldn’t really move forward or backwards so opted to let him do his thing instead. Sometimes that’s all we can do…or should do. Let people do their thing. Thanks so much for leaving this comment!
right on….makes beautiful sense
THAT means something coming from you, Meg. (Were you like the 1st TS follower? You might be…)
hey that green grimace face has got to go
I can’t control, Meg. Or if I can…I don’t know how. I’ll look into it.
Andy, You don’t appear to be but in your late 20′s to early 30′s. How on earth did you become so wise and insightful in such a short peroid of time?
Irene you just gave me 2 compliments in one. I’m actually in my early ’40′s…and well…I guess I got my wisdom from the death experience. I read a lot…and pieced together some things…and that’s one of the reasons I started this blog. Kind of a guide map for me…and hoping it helps others along the way.
Thanks again for reading. Just challenging that mind of yours
YES YOU ARE!!!