DAMAGED

I had someone I highly respect admit to me recently that she was damaged. Not in the physical sense of the word but emotionally. While I don't know her as well as I would like, if she is, she hides it very well. I would more likely use words like "smart", "driven", "focused", and "winner" to detail what she is like in my eyes. It got me to thinking....

AREN'T WE ALL DAMAGED IN SOME WAY?

Life usually doesn't discriminate when it comes to surviving people or situations. We all have had to overcome things, some of our own doing, some we are just innocent bystanders. One of the cool things about getting older, besides no one expecting us to hit a home run at Fenway Park, is that life has taught us MANY, MANY things. We are such a better version of ourselves after we've gotten beaten up a few times. We have (hopefully) learned from our and other's mistakes, are able to recognize situations faster than we did in our youth - for better or worse, and we have answers to most of our issues that pop up because we have seen them already. 

I know we all have our own way of dealing with the challenges that stand in our way. Not everyone can or will be able to come out on the winning side every time, but the destruction that may come along will usually be minimized because of our lifetime education. Or not. 

I certainly would rather bring a person into my life that has had some difficulties and found a way around them or through them, and come out the other side a better and stronger person, than someone who has sleepwalked their way in life, no problems, no walls to climb over, or no crushing defeats. They probably didn't recognize any problems or deal with them in any constructive way. 

I like to think we keep trying and keep learning and keep the joy in our lives as much as we can. I like to think that, even a damaged Mercedes is better than a new Nissan. I like to think that, sometimes, victory for us involves bringing in the cavalry to help us out of a jam. I like to think this can and will happen to my friend. I am certainly here for her and any person in my life that I respect and am lucky enough to know. 

Will anyone ask?