I Am Not a Throwaway…

I am not a throwaway.

Neither are you.

I do not know how people lose their thoughtfulness. My guess that it is during the phases of grammar school and high school where at some point we feel the need to have to prove ourselves. To keep up. To maintain cool or to maintain an anti-cool.

Over time I do not think anyone wins with this.

For me two times stands out. Both took place in grammar school. One time a bullied a boy in the grade above me. He was apart of a family that was always picked on for their looks, their red hair, and the size of their mother. The second time was during the next year when I found myself actually trying to start a fight with someone, anyone for some reason to prove myself to others.

The road back to thoughtfulness is both strange and liberating.

Please and thank you.

Manners.

Sitting down to dinner with close friends.

Acknowledging each other in special and simple ways.

Stopping just long enough to listen to others.

Smiling at the elderly and children on the straight.

These acts are not throwaway. They extend love in many directions. Life becomes less of a battle and proving ground and more accepting of the joy, beauty and existence of each other.

—

Uwe Hoche, Thoughtfulness