Prose From the Soul: What It Means to “Be There”

And you start to wonder if anybody gets it
Do they know?
Do they understand?
You try to explain yourself but still,
you wonder if anything you say makes sense.
Maybe it does. Maybe there are people who get it on some level
and maybe people like us; we’re kindred
maybe

It’s not that you’re alone.
It’s not that no one else in the world can relate but more,
the truth of the matter is no one sees what you see.
No one feels the exact same way.
No one has your exact same culture
and no one experiences life the way you do.

I have news for you.
Everything about you is perfectly unique.
So, the answer is no.
No one will ever get it or see it or feel the exact same way.
No one will think or process the world exactly the same as you
and while I get it, there are so many people who run parallel
and witness the same journey; they might even say the same things
and be so close that you’d swear they’re seeing the same thing; but yet,
the truth is you will never see through anyone else’s eyes
and no one will ever view the world through your eyes,
which is fine.
The world needs more than one interpretation;
birds need both wings to fly
and not all opinions will meet in the middle

We all need a different angle or point of approach.
And this is fine. No really.
It is.

Now, take this into consideration.
Realize this when someone comes at you or has an opinion
which seems to be the opposition.
Understand this when someone mistakes your kindness for weakness
and forget about this because an explanation can often take too long
and life’s too short. So, forget about it
which, of course, I say this with my accent of a daily New Yorker,
perfectly intact. 

Forget about it.

This is life.
We still have a race to run. The traffic lights are still going to work,
even if we are broken and even if our hearts are heavy;
even if we’ve hit the wall or fell down the worst kind of holes,
the bread trucks will still come to make their deliveries in the morning
the television will still report the news
life will still happen and no matter how deep the cuts or scars can run
life will still be life to someone else – even if yours is over

I remember watching my Mother stand on the front porch
of my childhood home. This was the morning after The Old Man died.
This was the morning after I lost my Father and Mom lost her husband. 

She told me about this years later.
It’s cruel sometimes, she said

There I was, suffering the biggest loss of my life and
nothing else in the world changed.
The bread trucks still drove passed the house
to make their deliveries to the stores up the street.
The news was still on. The traffic lights still worked and there I was (she said)
standing in the face of the biggest loss of my life
and nothing else in the world stopped.
Not even for a second, How does this happen, she asked. 

I don’t know the answer to this. Then again,
I don’t even know what this is like nor do I know how this feels on a cellular level;
as in physically, I don’t know what this feels like,
at least not like she felt it
I could only understand this from my perspective;
as in, I could only assume how destroyed this feeling was from my Mother’s heart.

All I know, which is all I truly know,
is how I related to my feelings at that time.
And as for me; no one will ever know how I felt – at least not exactly,
which is fine because if we allow ourselves this right,
then this allows us the freedom to stop overthinking or over-trying
to understand someone else at their exact levels and instead,
we can allow them to be them and us to be us
and in the middle the two can meet as one by saying:
hey, I might not know exactly how you feel.
But I do know that I care.
I know that I love you. I know that I want to be here for you.
And whether I get it or not,
the fact that I love you means that I get it enough
to make sure you know that no matter what,
you’ll never have to go through anything alone – unless you want to –
and even then, I’ll always be here on the sidelines.
Just in case you ever need me

Get it or not
I promise.

This is what it means to be there
It doesn’t mean you ‘ll always get it
But no one can ever stop you until you do
or at least come close enough to understand that hey,
life can be pretty tough sometimes

I suppose the best part about this is we have each other
because other than that,
what do we have?

Some food
A few good nights
Some music to help us remember
or the smell of honeysuckles
to remind us what it’s like to experience the birth of springtime –
again