With Tears in Her Eyes



          "Why didn't you snap at her?" asked the boy's friend.

          "I did...a little," said the boy.

          The boy's friend looked him up and down.

          "You don't look angry, though."

          The boy shook his head contemplatively.

          "But she told you off in front of all your friends."

          "Yes."

          "And got up in your grill to tell you all the ways you need to shape up."

          "Yes."

          "And made you look like a fool."

          The boy sighed, "Yeah."

          "So why is she still your friend?" asked the friend bewilderedly.

          The boy shrugged in such a way that his friend knew that he knew the answer perfectly well but just didn't want to come out with it.

          "Come on man, what gives?  You've been acting real funny lately."

          "I don't know."

          "Anyone else you would have ripped to pieces right there, but you just stood there and took it."

          The boy stared, unresponsive, at something beyond the row of dark green lockers in front of them.

          "Why?  Why after everything she did to ruin your credibility are you not hopping mad at her?"

          The boy paused, realizing finally that he wasn't going to get anywhere without coming out with it.  He looked up at the other boy.

          "It was the tears in her eyes."


          There are a million wrong ways to try to help someone who needs it, but the right way is with tears in your eyes.  Sometimes the tears don't physically trickle out your eyelids, but they are there, plain as day, for the one to whom you go to the rescue.  They trickle gently down into your heart until they light a fire that can never be quenched.  What water can dowse a flame started by tears?

       Sometimes your heart thinks more clearly than your mind as it clenches fast on that thing that is actually worth thinking about.  Sometimes the philosophy of one footstep in front of the other is mightier than the tightly crafted exposition of abstract reality, after which composition the writer carefully sets it in a corner and then acts in such a way so as to completely betray it in favor of a quite different grasp of the 
things.  When all is said and done, we won't count our coins or prizes.  In fact, the only concern amid the many pieces of life we didn't really understand will be the one question:

    Did I have tears in my eyes?

If you would like to stay updated on my posts, you can subscribe by email or like The Modest Miracle's Facebook page.

 Agnes, Dreaming, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/legalcode,Jessica Weimar, Eye, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode Emily, Sept 16 2007, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/legalcode

Comments

Post a Comment

StumbleUpon

Popular posts from this blog

You Should Settle For Less Than Perfection

Image
Yes, you should settle for less than perfection.   In fact, the farther from it, the better. Did that get a rise out of you?   Or at least catch your attention long enough to give the rest of this post a shot?   Don't worry, I didn't mean that in a moral sense.   Complete honesty and integrity are always the best policy.   But there are other ways we seek perfection, ways that can be a real pain. Have you ever been annoyed that you had to stand in line? Upset that things took longer than they should? Riled up by another's comment that wasn't phrased sensitively? Distressed by procedures that increase hassle and minimize effectiveness? Disappointed that you had to give more than your share? If so, you're probably relatively normal.   You're also probably a bit of a perfectionist, in a completely different way than how people normally use the term.   Rather than imposing perfect standards on yourself, you try to ...
Read more

In Search Of Wonder

Image
Let me ask you something:   When was the last time you experienced something that was truly indescribable?  By indescribable, I don't mean something that's extraordinarily intense but that you could honestly sketch out in words if you really had to.   I mean something that is somehow beyond words completely, beyond literary devices, beyond what you could ever define in exact terms. I have a theory about that. You see, when we were children, we literally didn't have the words to describe our experiences.   We weren't that great at expression, so a lot of times we just didn't bother, or we only ventured out far enough to outline the basics of what we were feeling. Wasn't there a magic in the air, sometimes, during those moments?   And then in school we learned to think about the world in a whole new way.   Instead of just living life, now we actually had to think about it.   There was a name for everything, from the way light shatters int...
Read more

What It's Like To Be A Social Worker

Image
How far would you go to help someone in need? To the end of the street? To the end of the world? How far should you go? As frustration drips from your fingers or your brows furrow as your arms grow weak.   The best you give is only the best you can. Step toward them with your heart wide open and keys jangling in the ignition.   Now or never.   You or no one.   Let's ride. More critical than the NBA title, but less publicized than the new McDonald's grill buzzer. A crystallized droplet of life hangs suspended before you.   Long time, no see. You brush against it with a thumb as you pass, a subtle salutation. But your destination lies beyond it, far beyond the edge where harsh reality tumbles down into the waters below, crashing against rocks.   There is no sun or rain or anger or dingy therapists' offices.   There is only an outstretched hand. It's all you can offer. Yet you stand firmly.   Your ...
Read more