WHO ARE YOU?
published in Muse & Stone Literary Magazine...Spring 2007
We are all unique in our own way.
When God placed us upon this earth he entrusted that we would share our unique qualities to touch the lives of others.
Through the eyes of a child, the world is seen as wondrous.
Toddling around your compassion overflowing, you offer hugs and kisses freely. You share your prize toy to comfort someone in a time of despair because the concept of sharing was not foreign. A belly-laugh was as common as breathing, bringing a smile to others. Unleashing your treasure box for all to see, you were able to discover a meaning in every little thing. Nothing was complicated, as a matter of fact it was quite simple; opening the eyes of those around you to the joys life has to offer and forcing them to take time and sit awhile.
However, as one grows, priorities change.
How many times did you say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ today?
Why are you always in a hurry? Don’t you have time to stop and sit awhile?
Remember your prize toy? What do you find comfort in now?
Your treasure box is empty, is there nothing of value in your life?
Now, everything is complicated, what is happening to the simple joys?
One day, someone asks you, “Who are you?”
You respond, “My name is,” but before you can finish they interrupt and ask again, “Who are you?”
Stop and think.
Are you able to tell them about the warm feeling you felt deep within your heart when you extended a hand of compassion to an elderly person you seen struggling on the street?
Are you able to tell them about the contentment you felt within your soul when you sat awhile, reading to a child that was sick with leukemia?
Are you able to tell them how you laughed uncontrollably with a friend over some silliness you two were displaying and the gratitude that was overwhelming you having that friend?
Are you able to tell them how you were overcome with a blissful feeling as you signed your name to a card along with the flowers you sent to a relative you haven’t seen in ages?
Are you able to tell how you sat in the park next to a stranger sharing and learning lessons that nature has provided consuming your entire being with serenity?
Just because with no reason or thought. Just because you desire to share the same feelings with others that you were feeling at that particular moment. These acts are part of you because that is who you are.
Think about it, when you were two years old these acts came natural, but growing up taints our wondrous view of the world. Day to day life devours the innocence of our heart and soul crippling our ability to sometimes touch the lives of others.
Finding your place in life is difficult, but God never fails to lay many opportunities before us and occasionally the opportunities that may mean the most can be overlooked because of our own apprehension to share our treasure box. Sometimes, our own sense of belonging becomes a selfish reason to find our way in this world, but when you unearth your child-like qualities and extend them to another you are touching a place in someone else’s world and the sense of sharing enlarges what we so desperately seek.
I am opening my treasure box to you; taking this opportunity to express what I feel within me, an opportunity some may consider invisible to the eye. I have captured this moment to share my thoughts with you; thus, in turn, sharing myself with you because of my desire to make you feel the same pleasantries in life I am feeling. For you see, this is who I am void of a name.
CELEBRATE your inner child because that is the treasure God has given you and when asked, “Who are you?” you will have more to tell them than just your name.
