NormsMilfordBlog

The Best of Jack’s Winning Words 2/26/24 – A reprise of posts to the blog of the late Pastor Jack Freed. Originally sent July 26, 2013

“In all honesty, everyone is struggling. Some are better at hiding it than others.” (Will Smith) Harry Golden’s essay, “The Show Must Go On,” tells of a man who was late for work one day and was reprimanded by his boss. Later in the day, the man quietly said, “My daughter died last night.” Everyone handles grief and disappointment in a personal way. Everyone has their struggles. Try to be understanding today! 😉  Jack 

Understanding that everyone else has some sort of personal struggle going on is a start. Doing something about it, once you understand that is called caring. Much of the time we are so wrapped up in our on struggles or self-pity that we not only miss the signs of struggle in others, but we ignore them when we do see them.

There is a roadside sign near my home that often features a blurry picture of a woman and the message “Hunger can be hard to recognize”. The sign is sponsored by Feeding America. Most of the struggles that the people around us are going through do not involve hunger and they can be even harder to recognize.  Maybe the person that you encounter has just lost a loved one. Maybe they have just gone through a breakup or even a divorce. Perhaps they have just been laid off or fired from a job. Maybe they were just released from incarceration and are struggling to reenter society. Perhaps they are just tired of dealing with constant discrimination.

No matter what the struggle, that person could use your help, your friendship, your concern and care. Sometimes just having someone to talk to about the things that they are struggling with makes all the difference in the world. Sometimes empathy and sympathy were the missing elements that can help them get through the struggle. They may not expect you to solve their problems. They just need someone to listen to their problems.

Start each day by resolving to play “Hide and Seek” with those whom you meet. Try to find out the struggle that they are hiding and see if you can help. You don’t have to be intrusive or pushy about it, just be honestly caring and a little more perceptive than you might otherwise be. The game is “What are you hiding from me and how can I help” and not “What are you hiding that I can make fun of?”

So, look past whatever façade they are putting on and try to see how you can help. If you do that you may discover that your own struggles seem to fade into the background. Sometimes that is because you realize how much less severe your problems are compared to those of someone else. Most of the time it is because the good feelings that you get from helping someone else replaces the self-pity in which you were mired. You free yourself from that swamp when you help free others.

Care about somebody else today.