Just here to drop this thought:

I’ve started working at an elderly living home, just in the dining room.

So far, it’s been going well, fingers crossed it stays that way. The residents like me, and my co-workers aren’t nightmares.

One thing I’ve realized, and this isn’t a new thought for m,e but it’s always reinforced by new experiences: People are the same.

Doesn’t matter how old you are, or how young.

People just want to be treated like they’re important, like they matter.

Elderly people are often crabby and unhappy… it can be annoying, but I can see why. They’re losing mobility, mental clarity, health… and friends and family.

It must be hard to be cheerful knowing that your usefulness in life is coming to a close, and much fewer people care about you when you’re not useful anymore.

I also work with children and youth often, and just last night I was having a conversation with some teens at my youth group.

I won’t go into the details, but they actually were listening to me, not because I was smart, but because I spoke to them like they were real people, like I could see theirs die, even though I didn’t always agree.

I personally hate getting written off as “too young” by people, though now that I’m getting close to 30, it won’t be a problem for much longer.

Yet, I’m mostly the same person I was at 15 that I am now, I’ve refined my style, and become more patient, more experienced with some things, but my values are the same, and so are my interests. My beliefs haven’t changed.

Essentially, I was who I was at 15, just as much as I would be at 30.

Things aren’t so complicated as we make them out to be.

I’ve never met any kid who totally changed as they aged, they might become more shy, or more bold, but part of who they are is always the same. They still wanted to be cared about.

My dad’s mom just passed away, and she was the same person, in many ways, at 90 that she was at 30.

When you work with people, you realize the key to service is caring about everyone, not to the point where you’re obsessed with people pleasing, but to see them as people with needs and wants and who could use a little more happiness in their day to day lives.

No matter who we are, we can provide that for someone else. It’s what makes the world run… All the cruel people who run our systems, and exploit everyone under them, they don’t hold the world up. They could never keep it going if not for the kind people who still go out of their way to do good.

Which is why every culture that eliminates good people collapses within 50 years. usually less.

The world will deny it, but, kind people are essential.

And if we treated each other like other people who have problems, just like we do in our own lives, and thought about that instead of brushing it off as unimportant when we’re in pain… well, we’d be a lot kinder.

It’s not a new thought. It’s not really a profound thought. It’s just true.

I can’t say anything new, as the quote goes, everything worth saying has been said (or something like that)

But I also think you can never hear (or read) this too many times. We all need the reminder everyday to focus on being kind and compassionate.

So that’s all I got today, folks, stay honest– Natasha.