Sunday, November 18, 2007

If I Died, Who Would Care?

My first inclination was to say that no one could hope to find the answer to this question through a search engine, because the answer was unique and personal for every one of us. But even as I set out to write that, I realized that it wasn't entirely true; I think that the fundamental answer is the same for each and every one of us.

Here it is: You'd be surprised.

It's pretty easy, in day-to-day life, to take the people around us for granted. It's also easy to give the impression of taking them for granted even when we don't, or to assume that people know the small differences they make in our lives even when we don't mention them--or that they have plenty of other, closer people to affirm them and don't really need to hear from us. It might even be a little intrusive.

But all those people who aren't saying anything for whatever myriad reasons make sense are still there. Friends you haven't talked to in months, or maybe even years, but who know you're out there and value that even if time and life carry them in different directions; the customer who comes into your store three days a week and counts on the extra moment or two you take to chat with her because she's alone most of the time; the person yet unmet whose life you might change entirely.

Someone. That's the answer. It might be someone you overlook, someone you never thought of, someone you've forgotten, someone you don't yet know well. But if you died, it would change someone's life, and not for the better.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Form the desk of the coward one:
You might not even know me... You might not even take my comment seriously... But still... I'd like to thank you... Because, the way you describe people's way to think is actually my very own. Sometimes I ask myself that very question, and start thinking in all the things that would go better in the world if I weren't there to see them. Also, I start thinking in other people's situations - knowing nothing about their own way of thinking -... I think that "If I weren't there, they would forget about me in no time... Not that they notice me already, actually...".

But still... I care for other people. And even though I do so, I rarely express it. I never say anything like "I love you", or "I care about you" because I think that they actually know. Or, I think that they'd forget 'bout me because they have a lot of MORE IMPORTANT PEOPLE to think about and remember...

Anyway... I think I just needed somebody else to know (by not knowing) what I was going through, to notice what my mistake was. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

I too apreciate you post. It makes sense. But those people don't hold me. Don't tell me I am important and that they love me. They don't cuddle with me or take care of me when I am sick. But I do apreciate your post. It does help. I still dont want to live. I don't want to die either. How screwed up can one get?

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