Day 58: Everybody Is A Somebody

I heard one of the saddest comments today that just made my heart hurt - “I am just a nobody.”And the reason why I find it so sad is because at one point in my life, I have been there, and I completely understand what this young gentleman was and is going through at this time. Loneliness, a struggle in identity, in knowing where he belongs, in wondering what his purpose is, and where in the grand scheme of things he fits in to the big picture. Here was a man who was somebody of great stature and well recognized at one point, who temporarily fell from grace. Temporary is the key word here, as everything is changeable. And even though I wasn’t the one to say it or think it, the comment of “I am just a nobody” still felt like a knife through my chest. Why? Because whether we know it or not, we are THAT connected.

So here is something I want you to know…Everybody is a somebody.

Even you. Yes you. If you are reading this and you don’t think I am talking to you, I am ESPECIALLY talking to you. Many of us self-identify who we are and what we are worth to what we DO. Let me tell you something that might be hard to hear…what we DO does not matter, it will change. However what we do with WHO we are does matter. It’s who you are being that matters. No one remembers what you do, but they will remember how you made them feel.

Unfortunately, we usually attach our identities to what we do; something outside of ourselves, and if what we “do” fails then we consider ourselves a failure and a nobody. This simply is not true. So whether you are the grocer, the sister, the brother, the mail man, the woman in the elevator or the woman with the baby, the man in the suit or the man playing his flute on the street corner…we are all somebody to someone. Who we are matters. It is through our interactions that we become interconnected, and quite often we have no idea of the impact we leave behind with others. Perhaps we should take inventory to get a realistic view and a new perspective. Reality is relative to the lenses you look through. And if you still find yourself asking yourself, “Who am I to be a somebody?” I ask you… who are you not to be?

None of what I say here matters though. I could tell you that you matter to me (and you do whether I know you or not, because I genuinely care that much about people), but not even that matters. None of it REALLY matters, until you matter to YOU.