hyena

I was driving home tonight after a 12 hour shift bemoaning my fate in a most Kevin Smith fashion. Lost in my reverie I nearly failed to notice a silvery reflection from my headlights off the metal walking stick of a very elderly woman crossing in front of me. At first annoyed at her for not wearing anything reflective in the dark I noticed how slow she was moving and then noticed in her "free" hand she had five bags of groceries (yes I counted). I wanted to jump out of my vehicle and offer her a ride. I was almost certain the sight of me would scare her senseless. I stayed in my vehicle. As she crossed turtle like in front of me the urge to offer her help of some kind became acutely intense. At the pace she was moving she would take 15 minutes to even go a couple of blocks, what if she lived a long distance away. In the end she crossed in front of me and the vehicles lining up behind me. As I pulled away, sickened by my own intellectual paralysis, I railed in my head at the injustice of the woman's fate. To have gone so far in life to be left to struggle alone in the dark with a task so many of us would take for granted. The more I think of it though the more I think the world has made her stronger than me. While there is no comparison between our physical health she endures and survives under conditions I can barely even comprehend. I don't know if being frail and weak and barely able to walk would leave me disconsolate and forlorn. I doubt I could go out at night and spend an hour limping my groceries home because I could not afford a car or a cab. Instead of feeling sorry for her I want to learn from her struggle, to grow stronger from adversity instead of bemoaning the struggle.
12 hours at work Ba Humbug, hardly adversity at all.