Monday, March 14, 2011

Same Kind of Different



(photo by Tabitha Bird)


I look like you do.
Life pulls us both in, sits us down and whispers something we haven't heard before. It's called a new day. And I open my eyes the same way you do.

When you cry, I understand, because I cry too. And when you yawn, I nod my head, because I ache for sleep. When you stand at the edge of your shore line and throw a pebble, I will see the ripples, because I am only on the other side. When you stare in the mirror and wonder, when you look backwards over your shoulder and then stumble, when it rains and your boots are sodden, I am in those moments, because we are not so very different.

Maybe that's all I need to remember... that we aren't so very different. Maybe that's all any of us need to remember.

I have bipolar2. Think about it this way, I look like you do.
Life pulls us both in, sits us down and whispers something we haven't heard before. It's called a new day. And I open my eyes the same way you do.
~

What about you? Trauma, tragedy, race, religion, mental health, age, sexual orientation, social status... does it separate us all as much as some might like to think?

(PS- A massive thank you to those who visited my blog when I was away tending to the realities of mothering alone while husband travels. I have not forgotten you and I will be visiting blogs again today. Thank you for the show of support and for those who drop by to tell me how much my words have meant to them. I am humbled.)

24 comments:

  1. Tabitha,
    I always am drawn in by your words and insights. I'm glad to see you back:)

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  2. I'm with the Dalai Lama. If we realize we are all human beings who suffer and experience the same emotional needs/wants we will have compassion for each other. Everything else that definds who we "think" we are also separates us from one another.

    You are not your bipolar2. I am not my dyslexia.

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  3. Welcome back Tabitha! I needed your sparkling words this morning. You have such a gift:)

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  4. Welcome back Tabitha, hope all is well.

    Yvonne.

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  5. I missed you! This post is beautiful and a great reminder that indeed, we aren't very different. We're all broken and in need of somebody to pick up our pieces and put us back together.

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  6. As I've grown older I've realised more and more that we may all different, but fundamentally we are all the same.

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  7. Not so very different at all. The more transparent I am, the more I find there are more like me...that I am not as unique as I thought, which is both humbling and gratifying at the same time.

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  8. This is so beautiful, Tabitha. I believe we are all exactly the same, essentially. x

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  9. What a beautiful reminder/wake-up post. I open my heart the same as you and you touched it. :)

    Welcome back!
    Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow

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  10. Blogger I hate you for eating my comment.

    Take two; I LOVE coming to your blog. You fulfill my thirst for poetry. I would love to be your neighbor. You would hate me because I would never leave you be!

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  11. welcome back sweatheart. The world is a better place with you and your words in it.

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  12. Glad you're back with your thought provoking posts. :) Hope you had fun during your absence from blogging!

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  13. I am glad you are back. I love your words...and the photo is stunning!

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  14. Gorgeous picture, beautiful words! Glad you're back :)

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  15. We all have so much in common, don't we?

    Your posts are always so thought-provoking. A pleasure to read. :)

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  16. Welcome back, love!! I missed your posts so much! Also, this is beautiful. But do I have to keep commenting how amazing you are on each new post? Don't you know by now how much I adore you? ;)

    So glad to have you back. I trust the family is doing well now that hubby is back!

    ~Tara

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  17. Thank you for sharing TB. Blessings.

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  18. Hey, Tab:

    Glad to see you back. I missed reading your beautiful words.

    Jan

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  19. I love the way you smoothly mash your words
    xx

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  20. Words can't express how this ministered to me...
    Thank you, Tabitha. Lovely.

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  21. I am continually amazed by your gift with words, Tab.

    I don't remember who said it (Teddy Roosevelt, maybe), but I've read that we generally agree on eighty percent of things (politics, religion, you name it). He said we should focus on that 80%, rather than wasting our energy fighting about the rest. Wouldn't it be nice if it were really so?

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  22. Our differences only cause barriers if we let them. May we all be open and honest today, and always.

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  23. Part of human nature is to point out the differences, but we can be greater than our nature. Love changes everything.

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  24. Our suffering and challenges have the power to unite us in healing and love, if we let them. My daughter shared your diagnosis.

    It's nice to have you back.

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