It all works...

Have you ever sat in a car at a busy intersection, waiting for the lights to change, and pondered the life of someone in another car?  What is their life like?  What weighs them down?  What lifts them up?  Is it as complicated for them as it seems to be for me some days?  Multiply that by the number of people at the intersection and the exponential complexity of life boggles the mind.

As I write this I am sitting in Sydney Airport preparing to fly home for the weekend.  I am looking out the lounge window at a continuous stream of activity: airplanes flying in and out, taxiing, loading and unloading.  Cars streaming past on the highway and ships being serviced in the port.  Thousands of people achieving millions of things - every one of them with lives as busy as mine.  Isn't it amazing! This crazy and sometimes chaotic dance of life is continuous and it works!  

What holds it together?  Is it possible that something so complex as life is enabled and enriched by something as simple as kindness?  Being present enough, in the moment with another, to sense a need and responding with generous action?  When I think about it - I am amazed by the number of people, known and unknown, who make selfless contributions for my benefit.  What would happen if I paid more attention, in the moment, to helping others succeed?   Maybe this world that works would work even better.  Food for thought ....

Comments

[Lisa S]

thanks Cossie - you seem to catch the thought of the week for me. Yesterday I didn't let a very large truck turn in in front of me because I was busily trying to get to my appointmnet. A few minutes later he shouted at me (with a desperate tone)across the lanes (after someone else let him in) that I could have let him in - he needed me to help him into the traffic - and that we are all busy. He was so right and I apologised. Why do we continue to think we are the only ones who are busy and have jobs to do just like he did - getting his truckload somewhere on time?

[Cossie]

Hi Lisa.  Thanks for your insightful comment.  I have found driving to be a great litmus test for my responsiveness - a test which I fail much more than I pass.  You touch on an issue I think is important with this thought.  The need to be able to balance progress on my path with meeting the needs of others.  The test of my responsiveness is always when I have pressure on to be somewhere or to have achieved something beyond the moment.  Your comment reminds me of the power of both and rather than either or.  Sometimes I can let the person in and get to the appointment.  I need to remember this.  Thank you.  Cossie

[Sandra Wood]

Hi Cossie, I have had that very same thought sitting in an airport! We can all get so absorbed in our lives that we don't realise how powerful an offer of support, or a kind smile, or some words of appreciation can be. None of us are islands, and when we connect up we all win :)