Dealing With Fragility

Here is one conclusion about people that I have to come to after over 65 years of living: we are very delicate. It does not take all that much to knock us off balance or upset our "apple cart." Such reaction is understandable if something such as being with a healthy loved one who suddenly has a stroke or learning that your only child is about to have their first child. These kind of turns are big deals and, by definition, worthy of very emotional responses to the point of potentially being life-changing. But I am not talking about that kind circumstance. Instead, I am referring to things more commonplace, even to the point of falling under the radar screen of notable occurrences.

A friend does not return an email right away. A bad joke not meant to hurt but does. Traffic jams. This list of day-to-day events is limitless. Even as we attempt to go through our days with a sense of expectation that all will go as planned, we remain ever-so vulnerable to the twist. They happen and as a result we are in a foul mood, we are out of sync with the day, or we want to abandon the day entirely. It would be funny if it were not true. It would be endearing if it did not sometimes lead to ugly reactions. Our fragility is a commonality we all share, yet one we choose not to be open about or acknowledge.

Ok. So all of us are a few clicks away from being a mess. Assuming that is true, then the good news is it does not make us bad. But the reality is it does help make us who we are. Therefore, perhaps we would be better off if we did a better job of acknowledging that about ourselves and, just as important, each other. When a person around us explodes because they just learned their laundry is not going to be ready at the time it was promised, then perhaps we should be as judgemental as we sometimes are. Ironically, communicating to ourselves and each other that we are not as strong as we often pretend will go a long to making us stronger.