Pieces...

It  is interesting when traumatic events happen to people. It's like a giant rock blows through a window and pieces of the window fly in every direction. Gently, we pick up the broom and sweep the pieces into a small pile where glass shards of varying sizes lay. Each of these pieces came from the original window, but when you carefully try to glue them together, you find that although they fit together, there are rough edges and chips that don't quite fit together. Technically, the window is now whole, but is it like it was before?

Trauma can come in many forms...each of us experiencing the world in very different ways from different views. When something happens that shatters your world or your heart, it is not easy to just pick up the pieces and move on, unaffected. Picking up the pieces sometimes causes bloodshed, pricking of your fingers as you gingerly pick up the smallest shards of glass. Each piece is crucial. You need each one to put your life and your heart back together. They are an intricate maze that reflects the journey. To believe that once united nothing has changed is naive. The shards flying in all directions took their own unique paths, experiencing the air along it's way. They bring these experiences back to the united window, coloring it with film of the journey.

Each of are humans, experiencing our own journey in many different ways. Our experiences help us filter our viewpoint and what we bring to the bigger picture. We all bring our somewhat broken selves, cobbled together with love and experience, into the collective. Pieces of humanity, trying to find their way. Regardless of the outside, we must examine one another's hearts and souls, finding the common rather than the different.

Traumatic experiences, defined by each of us, need to be honored by others around us. We are all trying to keep the pieces of ourselves together. Some have had years to glue the pieces together, making their window stronger. Finding the cracks and chips has become more difficult as the healing has happened...some have recently put themselves back together, the cracks fresh and the chips evident. Finally, there are some, still holding the pieces in their bloodied hands walking and looking for help. We must come together, sit them down and carefully help them glue themselves together. Help them stand and gently guide them until they are strong enough and able to continue alone.

Each of us walks our own paths, but those paths have an ebb and flow. Sometimes we walk beside one another and sometimes our paths cross. Be ready to hold one another up, through the storms and difficult times. Together we can withstand much, but alone, the pieces can fly in a million directions, making the healing that much more difficult.