Falling Down

Have you ever been looked down upon? I know I have. I was once untouchable. There was no fault that could be found back in the day. Smart. Athletic. Still look like a baby. (And I played outside!) If anything I was too good at things, which prompted people to exclude me from various activities, like Wallball. (One of the worst reasons to exclude someone I say) However, that has since passed and now I find myself looking up more than I would like. Its gotten to the point that fear of disappointment (which I still have) isn't all its cracked up to be. 

Faith has been lost by many and even less find themselves supporting me, but what could I expect? Most assume I stay at home playing video games, cooking awesome food, what have you. Though if that were the case I wouldn't be continuing to lose weight no? While I do enjoy some DC3, that assumption would be false. Others think I should have a 'job' (Its in quotes because job is relative) and blame my lack of assertion or bad interviews (which I've never had) or something. I wish people would just ask sometimes. I've been denied rejected from enough jobs to be clinically depressed... literally, but I've been depressed before and it isn't fun. I wasn't always sunshine (Why else would I wear sunglasses all the time?) and chocolate chip cookies, but mostly. Now I have optimism to spare.

  

Well, that's.. sad... ish. Yes, but I'll tie it all together. The other weekend I went on a hike. Crowder's Mountain. With a load of new people. I was the only veteran besides the Lifegroup Leader. At the summit I noticed something. Most people know that trees grow on mountain tops, but some grow on the sides seemingly out of nowhere. If you've ever been to Stone Mountain you what I mean as that mountain literally is a giant piece of granite that trees still manage to grow from and thrive... and it got me to thinkin' (Oh dear)

Lovely Summit

Are we not unlike trees? Rather the seeds of trees? You see a tree on the side of a mountain can only get there from one of two ways. 

A seed falls down the side, whether carried to the top by nature itself or was sown from a tree higher, and finds a crevice, a crack, a jagged edge and decides this is enough. This minuscule amount of dirt is more than enough for me and takes whatever nutrients it can get. Nothing is for granted. It germinates into a plant that decided it can do more, it has to. Stronger roots find cracks and cervices. More leaves to gather more sunlight. What once was an abysmal situation has turned into a symbol for all look upon.

Or the seed was on top when the soil was fresh. An easy life to start with plenty of everything and grew into a might tree, but then the wind and rain torment the landscape. The soil is stripped from the rock by the wind. The sunshine blocked by clouds. The rain washes away the very rock itself, but not the tree. Not the plant anchored to the very thing falling apart. It doesn't wither, but weathers. Everything. Nor the wind neither the rain shall remove. When the sunshine returns there is a symbol for all to look upon. 

Both trees are symbols whether deciding they already have more than enough or by weathering instead of withering, however both trees are on the side of a mountain. Looking down at the others. Not negatively. Not with a sense of look at me, but with a sense of Look. At Me. I can do it. and so could you. We all look down on someone, something. But is it with a sense of you only come so far or look how far you can come?

There will always be someone in a worse situation and you owe it to them and to yourself not to say 'Pick yourself up by your bootstraps,' but to find that anchor in your life so you can be that anchor in theirs when it seems like there are none... and please, please, never underestimate the amount of time it takes to make a significant impact, whether good or bad. The most minute gesture can and will change everything.

Its all about the little things no? Next time you are watching Survivor and they do the flyover. You'll notice those trees...