Passing

Strength is measured in ones ability to withstand. Normally when we think of an individual as being strong when they can literally carry so much weight that ones is left gasping and inwardly yelling at them to please drop it before they hurt themselves. In those moments we are in utter awe of the strength this one individual can exude physically. Knowing we could never carry that, we walk away stunned by the sight of what we just witnessed. What about the silent strength that we each encounter everyday without even knowing what we are looking at? It is in this silent strength you will find the burdens of ones world. Silently carried throughout ones day. They slip through the crowd and you would not even know of their internal struggles. However, in one chance encounter you accidentally lock eyes and you are transported into their world in that moment it takes to blink an eye. 

You are carried through the beating of their heart and pushed through the worries only they know. You feel the worry of tomorrows busy day before today has even begun. The weight of their world is now on your shoulders. You loose your breath when you feel the heartache of loss. Taken back by the idea of loving unconditionally and letting go so that peace can be found, you stumble hitting the walls of their life. At once you are crippled by a pain experienced all day every day and you breathlessly ask why. Longing creeps into your bones as you realize the inability to move fluidly through one simple motion. 

You feel the negativity that tries to creep into the mind and is pushed back and shaken from the forethought of this individuals reality. You are transported from the dark end of the psyche to the brightness of longing, love and possibility. Smiles and the simple words of a children's book resonates over and over through the heart.....I think I can, I think I can, I think I can and they do. Through the pain they see the beauty of what is still possible. You find a drive like no other and internal acceptance only known by those turned away time after time. There is a fevered push to move forward and leave the negativity of yesterday behind. It as if the clouds have parted for the very first time in existence and the sun is felt. This radiant glow is felt through every inch of exposed skin. The tiny hairs raise and bow to the warmth of hope. 

Somehow in that one blink of an eye your life has changed. The simple contact of a locked gaze has transformed how you see your world and those around you. Something has resonated inside of you and nothing will be the same. A simple glance, that chance to understand and the one moment that allowed you to see life through someone else's life will forever alter you. How you lived without this insight for so long you will never understand. 

With the blink of an eye it is gone and you walk past her in the crowd. You glance back knowing life will never be the same. Search you may but you will never be moved in one single moment as you were in that random passing on the street.