Let’s just give everyone a break

I’m not sure if it’s my age or social networking that has made me aware of the extreme amount of adversities that people seem to be facing lately.

It seems I can’t go a day without hearing of someone’s loss or struggle, both great and small. People who are still struggling to find work, a family who has a lost a child, a mother finding out she has cancer or the killing of a police officer somewhere in the United States.

I grew up in the late 70s and 80s and I can honestly say that those were the good ole’ days. Yes, I had a friend whose father passed away suddenly leaving seven children and I had a friend or two whose parents got divorced, but those vents seemed few and far between.

Maybe my parents shielded us from tragic events but I really don’t think they did too much. It just seems that kids and adults alike are dealing with hardship more these days than in the past.

I’m sure that constant war and upheavals around the world add to the feeling of doom and gloom and the fact that we now have a 24-hour news cycle at our fingertips doesn’t help but the amount of personal dilemmas seems to be greater as well.

Throughout these life events, whether or great or small, we need to remember to be empathic, sympathetic and compassionate to those who are suffering.

For some people a bad week at work is enough to keep them in bed for a few days. For others it seems that one tragedy after another occurs in their lives and yet they keep plugging along.

We are only human and every human being has his or her breaking point.

My hope is that before we jump to any conclusion about why a person is behaving a certain way, we stop and consider the fact that he or she could be going through something terrifying or heartbreaking in their life.

Give everyone a break, speak kindly, show kindness and stay patient. There will come a time in our life when hope that others will give us the same consideration.