Things are not always what they seem.
I started going to a new church in November, as I’ve mentioned before. One time when I was there, I noticed a woman out of the corner of my eye who looked like someone I knew, the mother of a close friend. When I looked at her straight on, though, I could tell it wasn’t my friend’s mother, just someone who looked like her.
Last week after church, I heard someone behind me calling my name, in a tone of voice that indicated that the speaker was surprised to see me. I turned around and was surprised and a bit confused to see my friend’s mother, the one who I thought I had seen months ago. She was with the woman who I thought looked like her, and she said that this woman was her sister, and she was picking her up from church because they were going to do something together that afternoon. I said that I had noticed the resemblance.
Things are not always what they seem, but sometimes things are pretty close to what they seem.
Maybe there’s an illustration in this. To many people, my life looks great. I have a job, and a lot of the kids there say I’m their favorite teacher. I have friends. I’m a homeowner. I’m good looking… at least old ladies tell me so. But underneath, it doesn’t feel so great. I feel lonely, with the whole still-being-single-at-my-age thing, and I feel like I have a hard time being around some of my friends, because of my very different lifestyle and beliefs. And I feel just as out of place among many people who do share my beliefs. I often feel angry and frustrated that my life didn’t turn out the way I thought it would be. I feel like I was sold a bill of goods by some of the people influential in my spiritual development in my 20s. My great life isn’t what it seems.
But maybe my life is pretty close to being great, just like how the woman who looked like my friend’s mom turned out to be my friend’s aunt. All those things really aren’t significant, and focusing on the negative just ends up being destructive in the long run.
This probably isn’t a very good analogy, but I’m tired and cranky and I needed something to write about this week. Good night. 🙂
Highway Pi 