If You Had All the Time in the World, What Would You Write About?
If all I had to do was write, I’d write about the lives of people who made this life a little more bearable each day.
We’ve always been told that each life, our lives, are the collection of our experiences, memories, interactions, thoughts, and feelings, as well as the highs and the lows, what we gained and what we lost.
I’d like to define my life through the lens of the people who helped me get through a lot of difficult times.
Once, in my teenage years, during a church activity, there was this girl who, for some reason, didn’t like me. We had a night dance activity and then we were preparing and all. She went out of her way to make me feel unwanted, mocking everything I had to say. I happened to be the last one to prepare, and when I arrived at our designated place, I heard her say, “Don’t talk to her.”
It was awfully terrible. I was just happy to be there. Why did I have to experience that? Needless to say, for the next two days of that youth camp, activities and all, I felt unbearably alone because no one would talk to me unless it was out of necessity. I even had no one to sit with during breakfast. But there’s this good old couple, who saw me and invited me in their table seat. And they’ve always shown kindness and godly attitude.
I no longer go to church. In fact, I’m a religiously traumatised recovering non-believer, but every time I think and remember that old couple, I can’t help but think, “God must be real and he’s in their beings.” And, after all, I can’t look at the skies and deny the wonders of a creator or a higher being. I’ve learned a lot about kindness and compassion through these church leaders, who I will always think about fondly because, at one point in life, they made me feel worthy to just be there and that I didn’t have to be alone.
I’ll also never forget the first person who asked me, “Are you alright?” In fact, I would proceed to have a big crush on him for say, the next three years. He’s got it all — tall, smart, collected, easy to talk to, and great leadership skills. Well, I don’t know about him these days, but I hope he’s living life to the fullest because he so much deserves the world.
It’s also the friendships we make along the way. My high school and college friends will always have a special place in my heart, because they saw me through highs and lows. We’re in different parts of our lives now, some settling down, some living abroad, some just starting families, and some building their careers. But we still manage to catch up at least once a year. With them, I could just be me, though a big part of that is who I was when we were in our mid to late teenage years. They prove you don’t have to bring something to the table just to be friends.
Of course, there are those work friends who made life so much better, even if, at times, it was a toxic workplace or a dead-end small town. These people are proof that some people will always have your back, no matter what.
Then there’s family, the ones who, whether I care to admit it or not, see me through and have the best intentions for me, even if they’re mostly counterintuitive and impractical. Life wouldn’t be worth living without them, I guess.
What about you, if you had all the time in the world, who or what would you write about?
