Today I was in a contemplative mood as I walked along the river path with my rotty Syd. Earlier in the day I had posted on Facebook pictures of my husband. It is just a few short days until the anniversary of his passing three years ago. After the post my feed filled with responses of love and support for my family and me.
Some people shared how he had touched their lives, others shared how the relationship he and I had inspired them. Even though I was sitting alone in my house I felt all of the love they were sending to me. I remembered that same response of love during his illness and then death. It didn’t matter to anyone how well they knew me. What mattered was that I was sharing an important part of my life, I was reaching out to them and they were reaching back to me. All with compassion….all with love.
As I continued to walk images came alive in my mind. The first images were of people walking past each other on the streets, in stores or office buildings never really looking at or interacting with each other. Each person shut down keeping their lives hugged close to their bodies.
As this image faded it was replaced with another image that turned into an action packed movie. No, not one with the latest animation or technology filling up the screen. The action was different. It was about connection.
I saw a man about thirty wearing a brown woolen trench coat approach an old woman wearing a flowered house dress who was standing at a bus stop. At first she was hesitant as he began to speak to her. Her hesitancy melted away as he reached into his breast pocket pulling out a worn leather wallet. His eyes sparkled with the hint of a tear as his fingers gently pulled out a picture with edges that were slightly crinkled from being handled so often. The image was so clear I could see the warmth of love in his eyes as he showed the faded picture to the old woman.
With tenderness he placed the picture back into his wallet. Before he could put the wallet back into his breast pocket I saw the woman smile then heard her say, “I love you.” She wrapped her arms around him hugging him tightly to her.
This scene melted away. My mind filled with images of people from all walks of life talking to each other. Their faces lit up with smiles as they looked into each other’s eyes really taking in the important and not so important moments of each person’s life that was being shared with them.
Images of the feed on my facebook page came swiftly back into my mind. The pictures of all of the people who had written on my page. The emoticon hearts, smiles and love were there too!
What would this world be like if we treated people in our daily lives the same as we treat the people on our social network pages? How would our world change if people felt safe enough to tell us they feel sad, lonely or upset and we all responded by listening and then giving love back to them? How would our lives change as we shared our loves, passions and joys? Would the color of our world intensify as our hearts opened further connecting at a deeper level?
If you are enjoying or not enjoying your day and a random person comes up to listen and share what you are going through, following up the words “I love you” with a hug you’ll know my posts or a post that is similar to mine touched someone.
Hmmm…..maybe I’ll startle someone today by doing just that. 🙂
