Worthless Cliche


 

Well, I assume I made my last run over to my daughter’s house to tend to the dogs and cats. They are leaving their holiday resort in the morning and heading home. I took out the trash, sprayed the furniture and the curtains with Febreze, and put the dogs and cats in the yard, fed and watered.

Outside my apartment window, the neighborhood cat is toying with what looks like a big field mouse. I wish the cat would get the job done before the damn thing gets into an apartment. Other than that, the world's still a-turning as I work on my second cup of decaf.

Of late, I have been having long conversations with a young (at least to me) person who is a recovering addict. At the moment, she has been struggling not so much with her addiction, but with life’s circumstances. Living alone in a motel room, abandoned by family, she has no money, nothing of value to pawn, and nowhere to go. I really feel for her and can sympathize with her situation, being that me and my family have been in the same boat recently.

So what do you do? Offer support? Hell, we are barely hanging on to our apartment. Give advice? Jesus Christ! I think she has been around the block enough to know every worthless cliché.

So I gave her the only thing I had; I gave her an ear. Just as teacher Thich Nhat Hanh once said, “Listen Compassionately”. All I could offer was my time on that live feed to listen to her story as she poured out the fears and emotions of a desperate person just trying to live. With no transportation and no nearby support, all I could say was, “Hope for the best, and plan for the worst”.

It may not be much, but it’s all I had. So we laughed and we cried a little, and I left her making calls for a shelter to stay in. Life hands us all a raw deal sometimes. And whether by happenstance or your own damn fault, we all need a shoulder to cry on. So be that shoulder, and offer support where you can.

#ListenCompassionately #ThichNhatHanh #Empathy #NoMudNoLotus #NoJudgment

 If you wish to help or offer a word of encouragement, here is the link to her GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/c25943071

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