An interesting evening.

Hi everyone: 
So, I've been blogging for 2 days and it's amazing how many people are taking notice.  I am thrilled to have people from all over the world checking out my posts.  Thanks to everyone who is taking a look.  I want to continue blogging and bringing you all messages of love and hope. 

From the time I was a young child, I thought that all people no matter what their story were special, that they were gifts, and that they were deserving of love. 

The people in the world who are the angriest, the most hateful and the most revengeful are the ones who need our love the most.   They are the ones who need to see that there is love out there for them too.  We can easily give love to those who are sweet, kind, loving, tender, accepting and all of the good things in life.  Of course, because that is easy.  But how easy is it to love those who may have done wrong in life?  How easy is it to look past the the outside portrayal of a person and go inside to see who they are in their heart?  It can be tough sometimes. 

Last night was a reminder of that for me.  I have always enjoyed doing volunteer work and was checking out a community event where I will be volunteering in the near future.  I was sitting at a table with a group of people and with an individual who had a very obvious mental illness.  This person was angry and so mistrusting, it took me a minute to figure out how to deal with it. 

When you are in an environment where there is someone who has many issues like that, sometimes, you just need to focus in on them.  While I was able to get to know other people at the table, my focus was on this particular person.  I did not care how I would be perceived by others I just wanted to get to know everyone. People who are truly lost, just need someone to pay attention to their every word.  Some of the things they tell you will be unpleasant and they may not treat you the way you would wish to be treated.  But last evening I had the pleasure of witnessing something special.  At the beginning this person was talking to themselves, laughing in spurts, and then giving angry looks to those around them.  I happened to be sitting at the same table.  There were others I could have interacted with, but everyone looked just a bit uncomfortable, so I chose to make everyone feel comfortable.  I chose to speak to the one who stood out. 

When we began our conversation, this person was angry and not pleasant.  I focused in on what they might be interested in, and soon a conversation began.  We spoke of many things of interest, and I could feel everyone at the table beginning to relax.  By the end of the evening, I felt like my new friend had been able to come to the dinner table with more than just what was in their memory, in their past, but they were able to communicate on a comfortable level with me.

I appreciated last evening, because once again it reminds me that while we all have a story, some are just so much tougher than others.  But listen, and hear what they have to say.  There is more to what lies on the surface.