Circle of Trust

Everyone around you; the people you share the grocery store line with, pass in traffic, sit next to at work, encounter on social media, and see across the kitchen table—they’re all experiencing the collateral damage of living.

Every single human being you pass by today is fighting to find peace and to push back fear; there are wounded, exhausted, pain-ravaged people everywhere, everyday stumbling all around us—and yet most of the time we’re fairly oblivious to them:

Parents whose children are terminally ill.

Couples in the middle of divorce.

People grieving loss of loved ones and relationships.

Kids being bullied at school.

Teenagers who want to end their lives.

People marking the anniversary of a death.

Parents worried about their depressed teenager.

Spouses whose partners are deployed in combat.

Families with no idea how to keep the lights on.

Single parents with little help and little sleep.

Everyone is grieving and worried and fearful, and yet none of them wear the signs, none of them have labels, and none of them come with written warnings reading, I’M STRUGGLING. BE NICE TO ME.

And since they don’t, it’s up to you and me to look more closely and more deeply at everyone around us and to never assume they aren’t all just hanging by a thread. Because most people are hanging by a thread—and our simple kindness can be that thread.

We need to remind ourselves just how hard the hidden stories around us might be, and to approach each person as a breakable, invaluable treasure—and to handle them with care.