There's a giant window in the back of the room where my son and I stayed at the Children's Hospital in downtown Chicago this past week. The view was a snowy one.
Blowing snow, snow on the rooftops, snow drifting across the streets below us.
I thought about the different views of this city that are seen from this window as the seasons change.
The sunshine during the height of the day in the summertime.
The deepening colors of sunsets in the fall.
The number of people walking or biking as the temperature rises.
The traffic ebbing and flowing as the city rushes to life each day.
I wondered how many kids and parents have been in this same room, searching for answers, praying for miracles, waiting for procedures.
All of them seeing the view from this very same window.
But every one of them living an entirely different life.
As I walked the halls of this hospital, finding my way to the cafeteria or the set of restaurants to grab something to eat, I passed so many different people.
Doctors, nurses, parents, children of all ages, from babies to teens.
The range of emotions I saw in their eyes spanned from fear to sadness to weariness, to hope, to courage, to determination. Even joy sometimes...and that made me smile, hoping that meant they got good news about their loved one.
I couldn't see their smiles or frowns beneath the masks we were required to wear, but their eyes said so much.
Roller coasters of emotions for all of them no doubt as they spent their days here, some for work and others on a journey for answers.
Some say the eyes are the window to the soul.
Sort of like that window in the room.
Giving a glimpse of what's going on beyond the four walls and firmly closed door.
It's times like this that I'm reminded that the world is so much bigger than me. Bigger than the struggles I deal with in my small corner of the world.
And that I don't really know what everyone else is seeing when they look out their own windows.
In so many ways, we all have our own unique view.
Let's remember that as we pass each other in the hallways or on the street.
Let's remember that as we interact with our servers and waiters/waitresses when we go out to eat.
Let's remember that when someone posts a comment on social media that we don't agree with.
What's their current view out the window? Do you even know?
Pretty sure you don't. Neither do I.
All I do know is that it's in my control to be kind.
To let go of judgment and walk into every situation knowing that there's a lot more than meets the eye.
To pause and breathe and give everyone around me the consideration they deserve.
It's not always easy, especially when the view from our own windows is scary.
But I know we have it in us.
Be kind today, friends.
Always.
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