We live in a world where every day it seems like there’s another bombing, another terrorist attack or another school shooting. We always have bills to pay but not enough money, tests to take that we didn't study enough for and the most hurtful of all, family issues. Stress is our favorite word right next to worry. It is easy to say this is a terrible world and that there is no escaping it.
Well, what if I told you I had the perfect drug or remedy to escape it all? And what if I told you it was completely legal? Would you believe me or would you let your cynic side decide? The solution to escaping all the negativity momentarily is really quite simple: talk to a child. Have you done so recently? If not here’s a little snippet of a conversation I had with my beautiful 7-year-old baby sister.
Kelly: Why did my favorite show get cancelled? Why? Why? Why? Why?
Me: Maybe because it had bad ratings and no one watched it?
Kelly: What? But I watched it and Bucky (our dog) did and he loved it.
It’s little moments like these that make my world stop spinning. The first time this happened my sister must have been about two or three years old. I walked into the living room and there she was crying louder than I have every heard her cry. In between sobs I managed to decipher that she was crying because her blue crayon had broken and now she couldn't color the sky. It was the end of the world.
I put on my big sister cap, gently took her blue crayon and peeled the wrapper so that she could at least color with the remaining part. Her big brown eyes evolved into puppy dog eyes that you only see in cartoons. I was her hero that day.
Broken crayons seem so petty, but at one point that was the end of all of our worlds. Hopefully we can can keep that in mind and realize that one day you too, will be about to look back at your current situation like broken crayons. We can’t all be super heroes and save the world, but we can always color with what we have left.