What if

You know that girl you see running down the street everyday, you know whether it's raining or snowing, hot as hell or freezing cold?  She's committed to it.  It has become her.  For the life of you, you have no idea why she does it, she's so damn skinny and what you wouldn't do to be able to have that sort of body....well anything but run everyday.  Or how about that guy that is constantly working out at the gym and not losing a pound.  You see him everyday, he works his ass off, machine after machine, everyday he adds a little more weight to the dumbbells and he lifts and lifts but he always seems to stay the same weight.  You wonder why.  How about that teenager who walks home everyday from school. You know the one who has the same clothes on everyday, her hair is tangled, she looks dirty, her clothes are torn and worn and she's always alone, no one walks with her.  She always seems sad.  Yet you walk right past her.  

We all know people like these, we've seen them, we've ignored them, we stop and think about them when we see them but then we put them out of our heads.  Maybe it's because we don't want to think about it, maybe we don't want to face the truth, the ugly truth.  

But what if we stopped our oh so busy lives for just a few minutes and befriended these people?  What if we stopped the girl who runs every day and asked her name and if she would like a running partner?  What if we befriended her and found out that she was previously picked on for being overweight and is now so afraid that she'll turn back into it she has become obsessed.  She doesn't eat, she barely sleeps, and she works out all day everyday.  She is ashamed of her body, her self-esteem is so low she won't allow herself to stop until every ounce of what she used to be is gone.  She has no one, no friends, no family.  She has alienated herself from the world in fear of humiliation.  And all you saw before getting to know her was her waistline...

What if you talked to the guy at the gym?  What if you asked him to be your work-out partner?  Shared with him some nutritional tips on the right foods to eat when your trying to fuel your body for a workout.  Help him instead of stare.  Get to know him, become his friend.  What if you found he is a binge eater?  What if you found he was in the armed forces and was sent on deployment twice during the Afghanistan war after 9/11.  What if he showed you pictures of what he once looked like, svelte, muscular, toned and then you ask him what happened.  What if he showed you pictures of his best friend who died in his arms in the war.  What if he came home and couldn't deal with the pressure?  What if life is too much for him?  All you saw was the weight.... 

What if you walked beside the teenager one day and asked her name?  What if you asked where she lived and if you could help her carry her things?  What if you asked her if she would like a snack?  What if you found she was being abused, mentally, physically, and emotionally at school, at home?  What if she told you she was bullied every day because of the way she was dressed and her lack of hygiene?  What if she told you she had been bounced around from foster home to foster home?  What if she told you that she often thought of killing herself to escape the pain?  Would you help her or would you let her go?

We all have initial judgments and ideas when we see people, it's human nature.  What if we taught the next generation a better way?  Believe me when I say I am guilty of judging, but I have been trying to change.  I'm not saying walk up to a stranger and just strike up a conversation asking all sorts of personal questions, I'm a big believer/advocate in "Stranger Danger".  But what a difference a smile can make, or a simple "hello".  We only walk in one pair of shoes figuratively speaking, our own.  What if we can change someone's life for the better....what if?