Because of a great link a friend posted earlier this week (see end of this post), I have been thinking a lot about signs.
This link wasn't the first time, or the last I'm sure, that I have seen someone express how nice it would be if we could all just wear a sign that says what we're going through at that time:
"Please excuse any rudeness on my part, I have a 6 week old colicky baby that doesn't sleep at night and I am nearly insane with sleep-deprivation"
"Forgive me if I don't smile, I have social anxiety"
And so on.
My daughter and I talked about all of the wonderful people we met at the home for disabled adults (see Maybe the Best Kickball Game Ever). We talked about a few of the kids we know who have disabilities of their own: downs syndrome, autism, fetal alcohol syndrome...just to name a few. In each of these cases it is fairly apparent after a brief meeting that there is something, even if you don't know what, that this individual is dealing with that allows us to alter our expectations. We cut some slack, because we know that's what we'd want someone to do for us if the tables were turned.
But what about those of us who have something going on in life that you can't see in our face? What allowances do we make for each other when it seems to the naked eye that everything is square and hunky dory? One of my favorite songs says, "in the quiet heart is hidden sorrow that the eye can't see." I love this link below, because it expresses perfectly what can be hidden in a heart when it looks, to the outside world, like everything should be okay. We all need a little slack. We all need a little more patience and forbearance....because you never know what sorrow is hiding where.
http://bravegirlsclub.com/archives/2151
This link wasn't the first time, or the last I'm sure, that I have seen someone express how nice it would be if we could all just wear a sign that says what we're going through at that time:
"Please excuse any rudeness on my part, I have a 6 week old colicky baby that doesn't sleep at night and I am nearly insane with sleep-deprivation"
"Forgive me if I don't smile, I have social anxiety"
And so on.
My daughter and I talked about all of the wonderful people we met at the home for disabled adults (see Maybe the Best Kickball Game Ever). We talked about a few of the kids we know who have disabilities of their own: downs syndrome, autism, fetal alcohol syndrome...just to name a few. In each of these cases it is fairly apparent after a brief meeting that there is something, even if you don't know what, that this individual is dealing with that allows us to alter our expectations. We cut some slack, because we know that's what we'd want someone to do for us if the tables were turned.
But what about those of us who have something going on in life that you can't see in our face? What allowances do we make for each other when it seems to the naked eye that everything is square and hunky dory? One of my favorite songs says, "in the quiet heart is hidden sorrow that the eye can't see." I love this link below, because it expresses perfectly what can be hidden in a heart when it looks, to the outside world, like everything should be okay. We all need a little slack. We all need a little more patience and forbearance....because you never know what sorrow is hiding where.
http://bravegirlsclub.com/archives/2151
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