Holding it All Together

Though I can’t remember the exact quote, the message said something like…

Be kind. The person you’re standing next to may be barely holding it together.

This saying touched me, for I’ve been on both sides. I’ve been the one barely holding it together, and I’ve been the one not recognizing that someone else was struggling.

The very day I was thinking of the quote, I was given the opportunity to remember and act on the message.

My husband and I had finished loading up the items we had purchased at the big box store. As I was getting into our pickup, I was startled as three big dogs in the car in front of me began loudly barking. One dog in particular was barking furiously and straining its massive head out the partially raised window.

A woman standing at the back of her van next to the car began screaming at the dogs. Though the dogs’ barking startled me, I also thought to myself that screaming at them will not get them to stop.

I started to judge the woman.

But then, I heard the emotion in the woman’s screaming.

She was scared. She couldn’t get to her children inside the van.

I dropped the judgment. Those dogs frightened me too.

I caught her eye and walked over to her.

As I gave her a hug she broke down and said she was having such a terrible day.

She sobbed as she said she had been attacked by dogs a few years ago and was terrified of them. She told me of the money worries she was trying to resolve and why she was having to load up her kids and find her husband who worked at that store.

She was overwhelmed and these dogs were the final straw.

I remembered what I had read about being kind. That someone may be struggling to hold things together. And here that truth was happening right in front of me.

It could have been easy to judge, but how grateful I am to have had a change of heart.

Can you remember times when life seemed overwhelming and maybe you didn’t make the best decisions?

Can you remember when someone was patient with you in your struggles?

Let’s remember those times and be kind.

Let’s be the person whose patience, understanding and compassion may be the lifeline that helps someone else in “holding it all together.”

With love,