Today I Realized

Today I stood behind a wooden table scattered with food. There were vegetables, fruits, breads, all the main sorts of food a person would need. I stood there with a smile wide across my face as I stared into the drawn, heavy laden eyes of the people on the other side of the table. Their faces were as worn as their clothing. I could see their hearts buttoned on their sleeves, their troubles, their worries right there, written on their very skin.

Shyly, one by one they walked through the line on the other side of table, a whole other side of life for me, and picked out what little food they thought they would need for the week. I tried my best to put as much love as I could into my silly greeting words and childish smile as I offered them any selection of bread they dared take home. I couldn’t help but picture an entire movie reel laid out for each being that passed by me. I wondered what their life must have been like. I wondered why their bones seemed so heavy and their shoulders so weighed down. I wondered how they’d gotten here. What had their choices been? Had they any choices to begin with?

I’d always thought, before today that every man and every woman could make possible any life for themselves. Then I realized, you could be the best at everything and still lose in life. You can have everything you want and still be envious in life. You can collect as many maps as you want and study every known path and still end up lost in life. I realized, looking at all these delicate souls passing me by on the receiving side of the food bank, that maybe they had done it. Maybe they’d done it all. And maybe life had just spat back in their faces and that’s why they were here today. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t their fault.

It was a thought that had never crossed my mind before today; that the poor, unfortunate life of the sad soul living it was not at fault. As I politely greeted and escorted the people on, deep in my soul I cried slow, soft tears for each one. And as I watched their feeble lips bless me and thank me, I thought to myself, what would I do if one morning I woke up and had to wonder whether I was going to be able eat today or if I’d go hungry.