perhaps the real struggle is not the sharing.
sharing is easy, really. easier when it’s something given just to see another smile. ever notice that? when i give a five year old a quarter at the laundromat… unexpectedly… as a stranger… their eyes light up and they run and tell their mother and i can hear five year old enthusiasm, ‘MOMMA! CAN I GET A PIECE OF BUBBLEGUM!?!’
and it makes me smile.
sometimes… when i’m trying to share something important to me, something that matters to me, something that serious affects my world view and how i feel in relation to the world… i’m almost always frowning. angry. disgusted. upset. anxious. mostly because others so often don’t want to hear it. won’t listen. hear things i wasn’t trying to say. hear things that make me wonder if they heard me at all. if they ever really can.
adults want wisdom and insight. children want candy. there’s a lesson in there somewhere. i’m still learning it.
but that’s why i handed you that shiny quarter. you see, i’d much rather see you smile.