The world is made of the broken...the strong.
I get coffee in the morning and sometimes I get there too early, so I stop by the nearest gas station to get a snack. Today wasn't any different, but I couldn't help my self from observing my cashier. She has smoky, greasy, gray hair and wears glasses that are so large for her face they look like they're from the seventies. But she's bad-ass. The homeless, drug addicts, and nefarious characters stop in this gas station, and she doesn't give them a second thought. I feel safer when she's around.
She's broken, though. She stares through each customer with dead, soulless eyes. She passes each item through the processor, empty, without any acknowledgment of the customer. She's nothing to most, but something to me. I respect the broken because I have been broken and it sucks.
Success is thrown in our faces as if it's easy. Life is hard as shit. And it's people like my gas station cashier that make me realize just how fortunate I am. I have been broken. I have depression. I have anxiety. But I have one thing that I cherish the most...strong, good people around me. I love my friends and family, and I wouldn't have progressed if it weren't for their support.
Every day is different during Quarantine. Time rolls fast and slow with emotion. We have to be strong because we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, or the next day, or the next. Even if you feel broken, look for the strong around you. They may not always be the most successful, happiest people, but they know how to survive. They have broken strength.
Thank you for listening to my words.
Matthew John Meagher