Everybody Hurts......Sometimes

R.E.M. in its heyday, was one of the most popular bands around. True, they started out as a "college band" down in Georgia, but their impact has been felt on an international scale. A lot of their earlier songs were to my liking, but a lot of their later ones, just either left me bored or were not "my particular cup of tea." This I say as a man who loves all genres of music. Yet their song "Everybody Hurts" is a powerful one. It is so, because it speaks of simple truths, and the human experience that all of us go through. We all think we know someone "who's got it made," but underneath the curtain, do not be surprised when you find shattering pains that would bedevil anyone. Most people hold these in, some share them, its whatever is best for them that matters. As long as a person expresses their pain, that does not harm themselves or another, that is an alright way to resolve heartbreak.

"Everybody cries and everybody hurts sometimes." "Find Comfort in your Friends."  Those lyrics aptly describe what all of us go through. As the father of a child who died, that is my great sadness, and there are plenty of others out there who've been down the same road. There are parents right now, who are watching their children have thousands of seizures a day, holding their daughters hand who is facing life threatening Cancer, or seeing their girl not able to express the pain that they are contending with. Its heartbreaking, there are no other words for it. Tears of a river magnitude are going to occur, and that is alright, because as they hit the ground, I am convinced deep in my heart, that our loving father in the sky feels this. As do our family members, who may have different last names, but are more than just friends, but rather angels among us.

There is a lot of pain in the world today. In every country, on every continent, people are suffering. Our fellow human beings. We must pray for them, and in the cases that we can extend a hand, it is our moral obligation to do just that. Often I find solace in the woods, or as I walk by the grave stones of military members and their families interred at Arlington's National Cemetery. The cadence of the men and women, who are in the Army Division at the Tomb of the Unknowns, brings a level of peace that cannot be described. There are tears yes. Yet there's also hope. These men and women walk twenty four hours a day. We must do what they do, and walk in their shoes together, in unison with one and another, to be good neighbors for our friends in grief and in joy. Embrace life as much as possible, because each and every day is a blessing, that we must be grateful for. Even the bad ones, can be learning experiences, that bear much fruit.