We have all been there. Times in our lives when it seems like everything has fallen apart, everything we love and everyone we love has gone. These moments are the darkest moments of our lives, times when we say we cannot continue, times where we want to give up, times where we wished we could turn the dial back. These moments are the reasons why people like me have a fiery drive and compassion for others. It is because we have been there before. There is this momentum that has grasped me that tells me I am here for a reason.
Some say it is toxic surrounding yourself with broken people, taking on their issues when you have your own. The same people who say, “You like being the hero... It makes you feel better about yourself.. It is not your job to help them...” and to them I say I am no hero, I am not selfish, I have no ulterior motives to why I help people. I try my best to be approachable by smiling and say hello to people I do not even know when going to class to sitting with strangers that are alone in the dining hall. All of these actions have blessed me with wondrous friendships.
With having acquainted myself with many lovely people I have gotten to know them, gotten to hang out with them and gotten hold them as they cry. Everyone is fighting a battle. Honestly, people can call it as they want to see it, rumors spread like wildfires on why I help a friend through a issues, why I take another out to a movie, why I skip class to drive an hour away to pick up a friend. People talk, and they can believe what they want, but from my heart to yours the reason why I put everything on the back burner for someone else is because when everything in my life was in shambles, when minutes felt like hours, when my foundation was rocked, I had no one to turn to and that feeling is indescribable.
In my life, I follow a certain list of rules and try to stick by them as much as I can. One of these rules I live by is, “Do not make a promise you cannot keep, but always keep the ones you do make.” So when I make the promise to you that I will be there for you, I assure you -- unless I have left God’s green Earth that I will do anything to make sure you are OK. Many of my critics say that this devotion is a fatal flaw, but I see it as faithfulness. Faithfulness is all you are going to get from me because another rule I believe in is, “If you must leave a relationship or friendship, always leave them in a state where they are a better person.” These rules are almost like a religion to me, and they are the heart and soul when helping mend shattered lives.
Many have issues that are indescribable, problems that are beyond the spectrum of what a kid should deal with, but the world is not fair, neither is it perfect. Listening to some people’s stories still haunts me today on how society and its people could be so brutal, so merciless and so heartless. Many argue and judge that these people in need put their issues upon themselves, that it is their fault they are in their in this situation, and while this is maybe, Jesus said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” You cannot blame your peers for making mistakes, we are all human, you live and you learn and most importantly we need to help each other through this social experiment we call life.
“And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.” (2 Thessalonians 3:13)