Everybody has a Story to Tell

No matter how we try to stereotype people based on their looks, profession, or status in life, it is innate in us to classify...to scrutinize... and to try to fit someone in a box we knowingly or unknowingly built in the inner crevices of our own little minds.

In my 28 years of existence, I have had the privilege of a few people opening up to me. Seemingly ordinary people, living ordinary lives. Yet as they slowly unfold their stories, I begin to realize that nothing and no one is ever ordinary. They all have something to tell, if only you would just give a few minutes of your time to listen.

I am not sure what they see in me that even those whom I'm not close, they willingly share their deepest and (sometimes) darkest secrets. I consider it a privilege, nonetheless. A blessing and a curse, perhaps? Since you have been bestowed with something so precious, that even muttering or what more repeating it out loud, will be unforgivable. Well, at least, to your own conscience.

Like a superhero on his first day of having super powers, I too, do not know how to react or say. I just let my system "absorb" the information, process it, digest it. Then after a few hours, maybe days, or weeks, acceptance will begin to settle in. You begin to understand why things are the way they are, why some things are so complicated, while some so simple. Be able to connect the dots, so to speak.

Last night was one of those times. I did not force it, nor felt the need to ask. It's as if the flood gates have opened freely (along with Typhoon Maring and Habagat, I guess?) Of course, like the crazy weather, I was caught off guard. I was not prepared for it. Yet I felt that it was the right time for the truth to be told, for me and for that person mostly.

Funny how life can be sometimes. You think you have it all figured out, but the truth is, we have not a single clue. I believe that there's a purpose for everything and everyone we meet. Someday, when the fog clears out and the flood subsides, we will all have the grace and wisdom to understand.