I Love You
Two weeks before his wedding, he traveled cross-country on a speaking tour. He walked into a little bookstore wearing the suit he bought for his wedding. This was his 5th book--the first 4 had sold a total of about 500 copies. He wasn’t sure this one would do any better, but this is the life of a writer. Arriving thirty minutes early, he discovered the owner was the only person in the store which contained more gift items than books. The writer sat down on a wooden bench which he later discovered had recently been shellacked. He waited. He waited. He waited. No one came to hear him speak or to buy a copy of his book. Not one person.
“I wasn’t too disappointed because my hopes had not been high, but I walked back to my hotel slowly, thinking that I had been right, that my kind of writing would have no takers and I’d have to get used to empty bookstores and unimpressed owners. I thought about other ways I might make a living and set about my life’s work.” *
He was pretty calm considering he had traveled far, gotten stains on his only suit and no one showed up. I can think of one person who would’ve begun berating himself and saying things about how worthless he is.
Life knocks us off balance, upsets us, makes us wonder "What just happened to my life?" Most of us are able to regain our footing and continue although we walk into unknown territory.
We can tell someone how good they are, how talented they are, how much we love them, that they will get through this. If they do not believe it themselves, we may as well be talking to the rain. All we can do is listen and listen and listen. A person must have an emptiness in their heart in order to receive our compassion. Seldom can we displace what is already there.
*Moore, Thomas. The Eloquence of Silence: Surprising Wisdom in Tales of Emptiness (p. 12). New World Library. Kindle Edition.
ART: LJ Austin “Among the Dreams of the Days that Were” 2018
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