Things I know are true...

There isn’t much in our crazy world that I know to be true, bad dates, funky smelling sex and bad teeth are a few of those things. I'm quite the fly paper for the challenged; however, I am a thinker as well and I question things on a daily basis. Right and wrong under the right circumstances can switch sides. There is so much black and white in this world but I find many shades of gray (way more than fifty for those of you who thought that) in the middle that seem unclear but here are the things that I know to be true.

1.       Strangers you pass by on the street can be nicer to you in that moment than friends you’ve known your whole life.

2.       A dollar you earn is much better than money you are given.

3.       Money you spend on others is better than money stored in a bank.

4.       A smile really is universal.

5.       You can’t make anyone love you no matter how many time you move the stars, alter time and change the world. If they really love you back, you won’t HAVE to do those things but when you do they won’t go unnoticed.

Never under estimate the kindness of a stranger. Sometimes they can be the person that makes your day, turns your life around and gets you back on track. I have ran into someone multiple times and I do not know his name and he does not know mine but he is up lifting and always has a smile on his face and greets me kindly. He talks to me about the goodness in people and how we tend to focus on the bad. He smiles, laughs, makes friendly conversation and that is that. I have friends I’ve known for years who I haven’t had such nice conversations with. 

I never thought I would say it but it really is true, when you work for something the reward is that much greater. Knowing that I did it alone that I managed to earn money instead of having it handed to me makes me feel like I contribute.  There are days when I hate work. There are days when I say “I should have been born rich.” However, the struggle has made me who I am today making me appreciate my earnings that much more.

I was raised to help others. If I have five dollars in my pocket and you need six, I’ll give you the five and try my best to get the other dollar you need, even if I scrape my change together and that’s the last bit of money I have I will help you. I can’t take it with me when I die and maybe you need it much more than I do and maybe just maybe someone will be kind enough to do the same for me one day if I find myself in need.

Awhile back while trying to offer help to a group of people from Japan with a major language barrier between us I remember trying my best to talk to them. They hardly understood a word if any that I said and yet I kept trying. But each time I smiled they smiled back. Each time they smiled I returned the smile. And when they were ready to leave the all turned to me and smiled, bowed and left.  They understood that I was friendly but couldn’t understand my words. They understood that I was kind and wanted to help simply because I smiled. The saying is true; always smile because you never know who could be falling in love with it.

“I have turned the world upside down and I have done it all for you!” and in the end Sarah still doesn’t love the Goblin King. You can drive yourself crazy trying to make someone love you in return. You can go to the ends of the Earth, move mountains and carry their load on the weight of your shoulders and it won’t matter at all because they can’t force themselves to love you. Love is uncontrollable and often unkind. It makes the rich beg and the good turn bad, and as many times as I can say “I love you” as many ways I can show “I love you” it will not matter if you don’t love me. The best one can hope for is that you get the chance to tell someone how you feel, hope they feel the same; however, if they do not at least they know. You were brave enough, strong enough and open enough to tell them.

 Now let them go. You won’t stop loving them, that often never goes away but you can’t hold on to someone who was never yours to begin with. Let them go and if you fall to pieces simply pick them up and force that smile that someone, somewhere will fall madly in love with.