A Picture Worth a Thousand Words
I saw a picture once, when I was browsing social media, that has stuck with me for several years now. It was an artistic rendering of two people silhouetted against a moonlit sky, walking hand in hand away from the viewer and over a hill. It was captioned, “We are all just walking each other home.” I was deeply moved by this image and its caption, and it reminds me of how important it is to be a safe place and a shield to the people around us.
Grow Into the Void
The concept of walking each other home has since become a part of my personal philosophy. There are many times, looking back, that I wish I had someone to walk with me. Many times also, that the person who was walking with me was not there to help me. I could learn three different lessons from each of those times in my life. I could learn to let people walk alone who need me to walk with them, since no one was there for me. Or I could have learned to exploit people I cross paths with, because that’s just how people are, and it’s a “dog eat dog world out there.” I could also learn to be the person I needed. To me, people who choose the latter lesson, to grow into the void that they suffered from, are truly beautiful.
A Friend or a Bandit
I sometimes reflect on the people that I have crossed paths with in my life. An English/literature teacher in high school, a theatre teacher in college, a Drill Sargent in Army Basic Training. My brother, my stepfather, my wife, childhood friends come and gone. We found each other on the trail, on a moonlit night. We held hands and walked with each other a ways, until one of us stopped and the other continued on.
It’s funny to me, to imagine that to other people I am a stranger on their trail who may either hold their hand and walk them home as a friend, or a bandit who will rob them and leave them stranded along their way. But so we are, to everyone that enters our orbit. It is a beautiful and terrifying thing, the responsibility that we all have for each other. A gentle reminder to be kind to everyone we meet.
Another aspect of that picture that speaks to me is the simplicity of it. As complicated as we make our lives, and regardless of our personal identities, the groups we associate with, and whatever other lines we draw in the sand…we are all just walking each other home. The only question then becomes, “Do I want to be a friend, or a bandit?”
Much Love!