They are People Too

Something that kind of makes me laugh, kind of makes me sad, is the girls who are constantly on a boy-hunt. They're constantly scouting out guys who are cute and fantasizing about a romance with them if they meet their criteria on the attractive scale.

Guys probably do this too, for girls.

Two things that I came to realize sometime in high school were:
Adults are people, too.
Guys are people, too.

Crazy, right?

If you're patient enough, not only with a guy, but with anyone, you'll find that everyone has a deeper side to them, a real, authentic aspect to them just waiting to be discovered. The class clown? Yeah, he can be serious too. He even has a lot of strong emotions. The shy girl in the corner? Something is actually going through her mind. She might even be thinking about you. The old man who always seems so absent-minded? He's led a long life and probably has a lot of stories to tell that you, yes you, can relate to. Surprised? Don't be. It's reality.

It's more than people just having a personality. It's people having a soul.

Now we come to the bit about empathy. You have to admit that there's a lot going on in people's lives that no one knows about. Almost no one knew that when I came back to school after Christmas break, I was heartbroken, depressed, and incredibly lonely. Almost no one. Most people probably looked at me and said, oh, that's just Maryann again, back for another semester. Now that it's in the past, it's not very hard to admit, but when it was happening it was too hard to talk about. Putting on a fake smile and forcing myself to try and finally make friends, as hard as it was, was the only thing I could do. None of those new friends knew.

After a recent experience that caused me to really think, it started sinking in that anyone I look at may or may not be dealing with some very serious problems. Addictions, mental or emotional disorders, family problems, grief, heartbreak, abuse.... the list is pretty much endless. Maybe they're fine, maybe they're not. You could be looking into the face of your closest friend every day and not realize that they're afraid to go home over break or the weekend, or they're afraid to be alone because they know what they'll do to themselves. You really don't know. You could pass a person every day and be blind to their life. You may think you know, you may assume you understand them, but do you? Do you really know? Absolutely not.

I'm extremely blessed because I feel like God gave me something strange that lets people want to talk to me. People I may know well, or not very well at all, have told me the deepest parts of themselves that no one in their family or any of their friends knows about. They've said, wow, I never told anyone that before. What is it about me that people feel they can open up to me? I have absolutely no idea, but it means a lot to me, that people can see that I'm a trustworthy person. That I will indeed listen to you and pray for you, and do for you anything else you need.

I suppose it comes from love, which comes from Jesus. I don't really feel bad about saying I have a lot of love in me, because whilst that may sound conceited, it's not really my own love I'm claiming to have. It's Jesus'. I highly doubt I would be a very loving person at all if he were not my life.

I apologize for going off on this tangent, folks. What my point boils down to is this: people are worth getting to know. If you're willing to love them, accept them with open arms, keep their secrets, pray for them, they will know they can come to you. Do not do it so that they will come to you so that you can feel like a good, kind person. This is a very selfish thing to do. Do it so that they have someone they can open up to. If not you, who else? Do it for them. Do it out of genuine love. Love them because you love them. Love them because you were first loved. Love love love love love. Everyone's a person too. Everyone has a soul. Everyone needs love. Everyone.

God bless.