Perspective

Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done. Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you. You're better than that!

-Rocky Balboa

Aren't quotes great? Sometimes someone says something so profound that you can't help but to one hundred percent agree with it, feel it, and wish you had said it yourself.

Anyway.

I feel the need to apologize to my readers for taking them off guard recently. Usually my posts are written in an attempted lighthearted manner that belies what may be bothering me underneath, or at least discusses it without outright describing what happened. I have forgotten the lesson of Perspective that I learned at a very young age.

When I was in kindergarden, I was already able to read, and had been able to for some time. This is not a boast, this is simply a fact. I learned at a young age how to escape into the written word, and to me, it seemed perfectly normal that I was able to do this.

What I did not understand, as I Still sometimes struggle to, is that not everyone is the same. That not everyone is like me.

One day in kindergarden, as Miss Martinez was gushing over my literacy skills, by having me help her out in class by reading aloud to them at story time. She had been suffering from laryngitis and I was happy to help out, especially given my 5-year-old boy's crush on her.

Oh shut up, like I'm the only one to have crushed on a teacher. Honestly.

Anyway, I'm drifting. The point of the tale is that one day, while among my peers, I didn't understand why some of the other kids couldn't read like I could. And due to my lack of knowledge about a thing called "Tact," I did what is generally unthinkable.

I asked someone what was wrong with them for not being able to read.

Yeah. Oops.

Ok, so I caught a beating over it, but I learned that people were different. Some people could read. Others could whip your ass and make you eat dirt. That made sense. Lesson learned.

And then somewhere forgot.

When I look back at my life, I see it through the eyes of the one who lived it, and when I wrote of it recently, I didn't take into account that although I can shrug off these events (now, at least) others may not be so prepared for them when presented in a bold, cavalier manner.

I'm very sorry to anyone that was affected by reading about some of the events, and in the future I will include a caveat such as "rough waters ahead" or "avert thy eyes, gentle readers" and so on to warn people to either skip to a different post or to at least prepare them for what may come.