Guest Post: Stranger Like Me

Today is my Monday.... No really, I thought today was Monday because of the holiday. So here we are the first "Monday" of the month and Layne is here with a blog post!

Enjoy it... I know I did.

Dear Fellow Sojourner,

You acted rudely on the bus today, talking cruelly to the person who tried to sit next to you, leaving your pile of stuff heaped so no one could sit near you. It was offensive and distasteful for all around you. I could imagine their looks of horror mirrored in my own.

But then I heard you on the phone talking about her last weeks of pain, her leaving so suddenly. I hear your voice wrecked with regret. And I realize with a start that I don’t know all that your week has held. I don’t know if your wife left you or if your best friend is dying of cancer. I don’t know if the pipes exploded in your kitchen while you were away at work, causing thousands in damages. I don’t know if your mom and dad were good to you and if the kids at school were kind. I don’t know who else has been rude to you today.

So I will close my eyes for a minute longer, take a deep breath and exchange my judgmental thoughts for compassionate ones. Because for all that I do not know about you, I do know this. You are a fellow human, worth respect. You are a son, a friend to someone. You have a story that is unknown to me but important. And so I give you grace. Maybe tomorrow I will offer you a word, a small smile. Today I don’t have that much to give, nothing except the benefit of the doubt.

And I hope that if you are the stranger near me when I unjustifiably lash out after A Horrible Morning, you will be kind.

Love,

Layne

Layne lives in southern Ontario with her husband Jonathan where they have been running theirmedia company since October 2011.

She graduated from Western Kentucky University in 2005 with a Bachelor’s degree in photojournalism. She interned at newspapers in Indiana and Michigan and has volunteered for PhotogenX since 2009.

Layne co-authored “Act Here. Love Now.,” a culmination of stories, photos and practical ways to impact your own community, city and world. “Act Here. Love Now.” was a finalist in the Multicultural Non-Fiction and Current Events/Social Change categories in the 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Their business was recently featured on Wedding Chicks, one of the premiere wedding planning sites.