I can’t imagine of what it must be like to be Theo. I can’t imagine what it is to suffer that much pain. In short I had loving parents who were very supportive of me. I was blessed to have such a lucky childhood.

One of these days I will grab Theo’s book and give it a solid read. Part of me wants to read it really badly and the other half doesn’t want to read about the pain. I never went through what he went through but I did have my fair share pain from being bullied. The pain of those memories is enough to warrant me shelving them somewhere in the back reaches of my brain; gone but not forgotten. My pain is no match for Theo’s pain. My mother always said to me that people are put on this planet for a reason. Some people know right away what they want to do in life while others coast along looking for a reason to believe. Others are never given the chance to make that choice.

I sometimes feel that I am on a fast moving train, my head out the window enjoying the wind zipping past my face. As I look backwards, I see people barely hanging on, I see people falling off the train, snapping to the ground like bags of flour. I choose to look forward and drown out the sound of the snapping bags of flour. Their souls released from the sacks, looking for a reason to belong, drifting across a barren landscape devoid of character. The wind whips by my face and the sun warms my cheeks. The feeling is similar to being outside in the snow on a sunny day. It feels good to look into the searing sun, the red glow beneath my closed eyelids yields happiness.

As I move along in my life, I can look back and see the people who have chosen to hang on. They have moved up to the front of the train, hanging their heads out the window with me and smiling all the way. They are managing as best as they can. There are those who I do recognize, and others I can only make out their silhouetted smiles in the blinding sunlight. There is a special passenger on this particular leg of the journey. I hadn’t seen him before. This fellow chose to hang on, lifting his tiny frame out of the train windows, the red and orange of his Calgary Flames jersey was flapping in the wind. This was music to my ears. Theo, it’s about time you joined us. 🙂