Be somebody's something

I was watching our local news broadcast the other day and after a run down of reports on break-ins, thefts, other crimes of desperation, the newswoman said, "People are really hurting".

While I knew this all along, it was really interesting to hear it from her and it was quite the eye-opener. I know that we, personally, have been really affected by the economic downturn. We are really thankful that we are not in over our heads with a mortgage we can't afford. But, we've had to tighten the purse-strings just the same.

There are a few stories I'll share that point to the hurt and despair that's in the world around us.

1. Although its unrelated to economic issues, I received word that a former student's mother suffered a stroke last week on Thanksgiving day. She went to the hospital where they discovered a hole in her heart as well as a benign tumor in her heart. During a corrective surgery, she suffered from major complications and is now on life support. This news literally made me sick to my stomach. The woman is a teacher at one of our elementary schools and has two precious daughters. We taught her oldest daughter last year and she was one of those kids you'd like to clone. Anyway, it sounds like a very dire situation and I can't imagine the pain that family is feeling. In one of those weird, imaginary sequences of events, I imagined myself seeing this student in a hallway and just hugging her and crying with her. Of course, when we deal someone else's grief and loss, we try to come up with ways to help. And, in my imagination, that's what I did. I went to her, and just cried with her.

2. I also found out that one of my students this year has had the electricity turned off at his house. The family is sleeping in their clothes and leaving the oven on at night to stay warm. In my imagination, I wondered what I would do. I am still working on this one because this situation is so different.

The point is, and it's vague I know, is that so many around us are in worlds of hurt that we can't even imagine. When I have been in the darkest valleys of my life, I walked around, drove around, and carried out my activities like everybody else. Only those nearest to me knew my pain. Strangers on the street did not know, acquaintances at work may not have known. It's so stressful to bear the burden on your own.

How many times a day do we cross paths with those who are hurting so bad? How many times a day do we ignore them or become upset with them because of something that is, in the grand scheme of things, unimportant. How many of these kids that I teach, that drive me crazy sometimes, are in those dark valleys now. When I could be busy being somebody's something, so often I'm not. What a sad and unfortunate truth.

Especially now, at Christmastime, let's try to remember that those around us may not always let on how they really feel. But that, those hurts exist in a real, tangible form to them, and we must be sensitive of that.

You never know, you could really mean something to somebody.