Being There

How do you help those who need help?

How do you unhurt the hurting that began?

How do you heal that which has been broken?

It's not easy being there for someone when they are upset. Often, they will take out their frustration on you and in the process, you absorb it. You try to deflect it away, part by part but it still eats away at you. It's not easy even when you do your best.

I just remembered something from my teen years (this story has nothing to do with what I was talking about). I knew this girl once, in my teen years, who was like... perfect. Well, perfect enough-lah (cause nobody's perfect, right?). She would go to church, attend youth meetings, chit-chat and have her circle of friends just like any other normal girl.

But when she was alone... I found out (through her personal stories to me), that she cuts herself when she was alone. Like literally, TAKES A PENKNIFE and CUTS A DEEP, STRAIGHT LINE. She would often do this daily, if not, more than once a day...

I was baffled as to her behavior. Here she was, a nice young girl with a healthy social life and yet, she does something like this? She tells me it makes her feel good and that she doesn't feel so numb from life. I didn't really understand what she meant until a few years later down the line when I began to meet more people.

Anyways, that's an extreme case. But seriously, how DO you stand strong for someone? It's like being in a stone in a river... you're strong and hard and solid but slowly over time, the river starts to erode the stone. Have you ever experienced anything like this before?

But one thing I'm not is a giving-up sorta person. I'm not gonna give up just because it's hard or anything. I refuse to give up. I. Don't. Give. Up.

Cheerios!

Yours Truly,

Ji Mi.

P.S. I still love you...