A New Perspective

One of my friends just got out of a long term relationship. He's been pretty down lately, and nothing you can say to him seems appropriate or helpful.

Last night I asked him how we was doing with everything, and he stopped shaking the martini he was making, and began trying to explain to me something, he thought, was crazy.

He told me that he was at class today, and he saw this man he often sees around campus, in a wheelchair, on breathing tubes.

He said that today he watched him struggling to take a deep breath, and he couldn't help but notice that this handicapped man was smiling in spite of his struggle to simply breathe.

I nodded as he told me this story, and asked him if it helped put this temporary pain in perspective.

He agreed that it was just that. Temporary.

It seemed, to him, unfortunate that it took this man's suffering to make him realize how he could just be grateful to be alive, and breathing.

Surely, that man is not suffering though. He may have a different perspective on life, but perhaps it has helped him realize that just a breath of air is worth smiling over.