I stepped out of my car at the grocery store today and heard music. I thought maybe for Christmas they were pumping it outside, but it was live. Looking over, I could see the source of it was a puffy-coated woman playing a violin that was filling the air with ethereal music, not often heard in such a spot.
Straining to read the sign she’d propped up behind her, I was overcome with emotion making out the words ‘rent’ and ‘kids’ and ‘need help.’ Tears leaked down my face while walking into the store, and I vowed to give her ten bucks when I got back outside.
Walking through the store, sadness came flooding in that anyone would have to do that to make ends meet, and then I got angry at the why of it. Sad won over, and ten didn’t seem enough. After checking out with my one bag, I put it in the car and got a 20 from my wallet. I only had that 20 because of the kindness and generosity of others…and I was literally compelled to pay it forward.
Tears leaked out again on the way over to where she was playing, and when I put the bill in her case (there were only two singles there already), our eyes met with an unspoken understanding. She nodded, playing the whole time…and I turned to go, catching my breath on the way back to the car. Why so upset? Emotions shifted rapidly from sad to angry to grateful and then back through the cycle again.
Are we to be grateful for the experience of suffering? If I rail against the fact that humans the world over have been put through the ringer in too many ways, literally, to count…what help does that do? Surely, it serves as a release to feel those feelings and then let them go. Emotion is one of our greatest powers, and correspondingly, a great vulnerability.
What to do with all the sadness? That’s a toughie. As compassionate beings, I’m not sure there’s a bypass for that one, but we don’t have to swim in the sad pool for very long, either. The view from altitude is looking very promising about now, and in my heart, all the parking lot musicians of the world will soon have what they need, as we all will.
Focus on the good, true and beautiful helps to bring exactly all of that to fruition.
The one feeling I’ll hold onto of the three is gratitude. Sometimes, it can feel as though only a few unfortunate events could leave any one of us in such a position. Sincere appreciation for what we do have truly opens the door for more such blessings to grace our lives.
May we all soon be free of the Matrix, including the one that lives only in the mind…