a lesson

People will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget
how you made them feel.
- Maya Angelou

This is a lesson we all need to learn, both as the giver and the receiver. It's a difficult lesson, but a necessary one. It is so simple to smile at someone, to say a few encouraging words, to open the crack in the shell that may surround you. Will everyone learn this lesson? No.  Some will still say and do things that make you want to slam the crack shut. And for a while, you may do just that. But don't leave it shut for too long. In doing so, you may miss wonderful opportunities to see and hear and feel and do good things for yourself or someone else. You....WE.....must be willing to live life wide open, taking the good with the bad and sorting through to keep and send forth that which is good without dwelling on the bad insufferably. Think good. Be good. Do good. Say good. And good will come back to you. It may take a while and it may be easy to miss if you're not looking. But somewhere and at some point in time, someone will remember that good....and they'll remember that it came from you. And wouldn't you much rather they remember that?