circles

A friend of mine lost his partner a few weeks back. While still coping with that, he also lost his home of the past few years (San Diego is an unforgiving place when it comes to housing and being retired there was no way he could stay in the apartment he shared with his partner on his income alone.) So he's moving, on short notice, to Tucson (hotter but much more accommodating to those on fixed incomes.)

It all seems so unfair...too much to bear...but, of course, it is not. It's not right or wrong, it just is (and my friend, however disoriented and wounded and heartbroken he is, understands this and is coping to the best of his considerable abilities.)

The world is a big, sometimes wonderful, sometimes scary place, and we're all in it together (whether we choose to consciously accept that or not.) Helping my friend pack up his life, being a shoulder (for whatever it was worth) for him to lean on, reinforced that undeniable truth.

Our hearts go out to strangers in need...tsunami victims, homeless children, AIDS patients, battered women, anyone we see on the nightly news that makes us shake our heads with empathy (and/or reach for our checkbooks to give whatever we can)...but as important as that is (and it most certainly is), it is those within our own personal circles of love, friendship, and acquaintance who do (and should) get our first, best efforts, support, and encouragement (maybe "saving the world" starts with being truly there for one friend and radiates out from there...I dunno, it's too early on a lazy Sunday morning to think too much :-)

I am blessed to be part of powerful circles of love, friendship, and acquaintance...I am not an easy person to get to know but a fast, fiercely loyal friend and companion when you do...And I try not to take it for granted (though, being human, I probably do sometimes.) Life is not "fair"...it just is. But, that said, life is much easier to bear knowing that, in ways that matter most, I'm not alone...that I'm part of circles and communities and nations, a part of this grand, wondrous, scary, beautiful world of ours and connected to each and everyone else in their own circles and communities and nations.