There are age related challenges in every season of life. For a fetus it’s a question of surviving the mother’s pregnancy and making it to their birth in one piece.
For toddlers the hurdle is to walk and talk. For teenagers the battle is for identity, acceptance and understanding. The young adult’s mission is to uncover their calling and find their place in the world.
The dilemma of the single person is sifting through a sea of people to find their soul mate. For the married the challenge is staying married. For the divorcee the goal is overcoming pain, bitterness and resentment and remaining hopeful they will love again. The challenge of every parent is maintaining their sanity while attempting to raise well-adjusted children. For the aging the issue is one of declining health and preparing for their eventual date with death.
There are also socio-economic challenges that people of all ages face. For the righteous the goal is overcoming evil. For the poor it’s a matter of survival. For the wealthy the problem is seeing past their wealth and finding friends that will do the same. For the “beautiful.” the pressure is staying beautiful in the eyes of others, because that’s what people admire about them and what they fear losing most.
For the “unattractive,” the difficulty is finding people who’ll treat them as well as they treat people that they deem attractive by their own standards. For the celebrity the burden is handling the immense worship directed at them and resisting all the temptations that lead to self-implosion.
The truth is that life is a challenge for all of us. It’s easy to assume everyone has it easier than us. But that’s just an assumption. Each of life’s circumstances comes with a series of counter balances that keep us from nirvana. There is no perfected individual amongst mankind, for we have not reached our final destination yet. We are all just in transition.
Don’t make the foolish mistake of thinking that someone has it easy; no one really does. Our real struggles are inside and only we can feel them. It’s just that our particular struggles and seasons in life differ from one another. Troubles are relative, and adjust based on age.
If we can internalize this truth then perhaps we might show more compassion and extend true kindness to one another. It’s easy to be kind when things are going your way but genuine kindness proves it’s sincerity when you’re able to give it during the most frustrating, discouraging and disappointing periods of your life; a time when most people would justify their reason for withholding it.
Kindness has a kind of gravitational pull to it that defies human logic. The irony is that being kind even when you don’t feel like it will help to pull you out of even the deepest depths of despair.
