They Stood - We Stood -Together

They say “You are only as strong as the person standing beside you.” There have been times when that thought… frightened me, for the person standing beside me……..was……..well…… let’s just say….. I didn’t choose to stand beside them. Perhaps it was a strange twist of fate, you know…..a karmic curve ball – and I was supposed to be the strong one. I have been in rooms full of people, all standing beside one another, and thought: “We’re all screwed”, “look at this collection of inbred inhumanity.” I now know – sadly – they were thinking the same thing. No one asked for a show of hands as to who the “strong” ones were, no “leader” T-shirts labeled them, no super hero music played as they entered the room. They were there – throughout my life – those ubiquitous stalwarts, friends, mentors, speed bumps, guideposts, showing up to stand beside me even when I didn’t know why they were there. I know now – why they were there – coincidence, chance, providence, the kindness of a humorous god, the gift of serendipity, the luck of the draw. I know now why I was there, why we were there. We are only as strong as the person standing beside us and the person standing beside them and the person standing…….. Well, anyway, I’m proud to be counted among this collection of screwed up, inbred, inhumanity. It is a pleasure to stand with you all. John G. Lawless 1/17/2015