Take A Chance On Someone Who Might Feel Invisible
By Nikita Gill
Take a chance on someone you wouldn’t normally speak to. Speak to the quiet girl who looks like a quiet Tuesday afternoon. Spend the day by her side and see the world through her eyes for a while. Lose yourself in the wildness of her thoughts, wondering how someone so quiet can keep so much inside. Walk her home and really understand that sometimes girls who look like Tuesday afternoons hide Saturday nights in the simple lift of their lips in a smile.
Take a chance on someone you wouldn’t normally spend time with. Do more than smile at that boy with kind eyes you see every day at the bus stop. Ask him where he would go if he could be any place but here right now. Ask him what he would change if there is one thing he could change in the world somehow. Listen to him, really listen to his ideas and find yourself surprised at what you can learn when you actually listen rather than hear.
Take a chance on someone you wouldn’t usually notice. Start a conversation with the girl you see busking in the train station. Ask her who she sings for when no one is listening. Watch her eyes light up when she speaks about that person. Understand what it means to love someone so much that you reserve the very best of yourself, your talent and who you are for that person.
Take a moment for someone who really needs it. Give some time to the homeless old man begging on the street, who you see other people ignore or treat as an annoyance. Don’t just give him money, give him your time and ask him for his story. Understand how he too was once loved, and had a family that cared for him. Allow the tears when you hear him say that he feels like he has been forgotten. Be the first person to really understand him in the longest time when he says he has made mistakes and he truly regrets them.
Take a moment for someone who looks like they are breaking. Ask them if they are fine, and if they say they are, but look like they are not, ask again. Tell them to trust you and tell them you are there for them and mean it, just let them unburden their sorrows for a second, because talking to someone when they are in pain costs nothing. Understand how much pain and how many scarring secrets a human being can pack away inside them just to make sure they cause no one else’s suffering.
Take a moment for someone who you know truly loves you and you have been taking for granted. Call your grandmother just because you know she misses you, and visit your mother and surprise her with flowers or a hug or an ‘I love you’ because you know you should let her know that more often. Go to your grandfather and ask him all about his war stories, it doesn’t matter if you have heard them before, just listen. Spend time with your dad doing something he loves, like playing golf or fixing the car – just because you want him to know that you love him. Find out wonderful things about the people you have known all your life, and look at them in a whole new way once you have learned them.
Take a chance on someone else and find a newer version of yourself in that moment. A you that is cleansing your soul with kindness and understanding. A you that has changed because your eyes have opened to the fact that the world that you didn’t know, and the world that you do know together make your life such a rich and beautiful tapestry of wonder.