I like to write. OK, call my statement Captain Obvious. Who writes a book and keeps a blog if not someone who actually enjoys the process of writing? I enjoy getting my feelings out and telling stories even though my grammar is not always in check. Murphy Lives Here was my journal. When I wrote it, I didn't even consider publishing it at first. My mind changed as I recognized if I was going through the world of infertility, there must be others who might need to hear someone else say, “Hey, me too!”
Boy was I right. Many people have approached me, friends, friends of friends, perfect strangers, and colleagues with stories of infertility. We are a group like any other. People with Crohn’s Disease, Chronic Migraine sufferers, life threatening allergy kids and parents, divorcees, and confirmed bachelors or bachelorettes are all a group of people who share an event or circumstance that shape their life in many ways. People who are not members of the same group often get sick of hearing about whatever the given issue is of other people. Why is that? I could roll my eyes and claim a lack of empathy, but I think it is more than that.
Here is the kicker; we are all going through something at any given time. Often, our something is promoted on our Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and posted on Instagram. For some people, there ‘something’ is disappointment in the state of our political world. If you go to a Facebook feed of one of those friends, there is likely statement after statement passionately supporting Conservative or Liberal beliefs. When you visit a friend's social media site who takes nutrition very seriously, there is often information posted about eating well and avoiding GMO’s. If you know someone who has either personally experienced or been touched personally by someone struggling with A.L.S., Diabetes, or Cancer, you are made well aware of this fact by reading their social media feed.
So, even though we are all different and we all have our schema (educational term, look it up and you’ll feel like an intellectual), every single one of us develops passions and motivations due to the circumstances in our lives. We, as friends, should always support other people’s causes if we genuinely care about them. Slow down, I am not asking a Democrat to become a Republican or vice versa, that is crazy talk. What I am asking, is that each one of us out there take the time to learn about those other things that affect our friends and make an effort to care about those other things. If we do not care or agree with the other viewpoint, we all have the ability to at least try to take the time to understand one another.
I may not share your specific issue, but I can identify passion, disappointment, elation, and devastation, regardless of the circumstance. Guess what…you can too. So, it is not lack of empathy, it is lack of energy. We are all very busy in this life, but are we too busy to be there for others? With all that is going on in our world right now (a lot of it is not good), I think there is a call to action for kindness.
It is your move…