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We all have our battles and struggles in life. As a young person, I used to look at a movie star or even others I would come in contact with and think to myself how lucky they seemed to be. I had this misconception that their lives seemed to be perfect.

It is so funny how we perceive others until we realize they are no more special than anyone else. I think teens have a hard time with self image.

I thought certain people I met just seemed to have it all. It is funny how the beautiful people on television seem to appear like they haven’t got a care in the world. It wasn’t until I began growing up and saw reality of life taking place did it hit me that everyone has their own set of problems. With so many movie star suicides, their lives didn’t appear quite as glamorous.

My Mom told me once that most people would keep their own problems after they learned of other people’s problems. At the time, I thought I would change from being poor to being rich if I could. At the time, I did not know how rich I really was until I was older. I also learned that being rich was not the cure all for problems. I did not realize that being poor is really just a frame of mind as Mike Wilde once said.

To me, being without money is not the biggest problems in life. The biggest problem in life is the one you are going through at the time.

Just this week, I saw a quote by Dale Carnegie, a great motivational speaker that said, “Three-fourths of the people you will meet tomorrow are hungering and thirst for sympathy. Give it to them and they will love you.”

That was powerful to me. I really thought hard about that statement and decided that we truly do not know what anyone is going through on any given day. Then I thought that in itself is powerful without adding anything else like the coronavirus, the protests that are cropping up around us, the unemployment rates, sickness, death of a loved one or countless other things make added burdens for so many. Already only one-fourth of the people we see are completely happy or without problems on any given day.

Soon after I read, I saw a friend of mine on Facebook who had been going through a lot as a single parent who poured her heart out to others, She mentioned she had been working on the recovery of her body, mind and spirit. She is a very strong young lady but she realized she could not be there for others until she strengthened herself. I admired her so much after reading this.

She left a message to her friends saying everyone has different fears and are fighting different battles. She asked that we all be kind to those around you … you have no idea what they are carrying with them. I thought, we don’t have any idea and many have no one to go to or talk to.

I know when I have been really down before, my problems seemed a whole lot bigger than they really were. I think so many times we think we are the only ones having any problems. Then, we get through that problem and things go smoothly until another problem pops up.

Others have very big problems at times also. Sometimes just a smile or a listening ear is what is needed. We need to quit being selfish with ourselves and think of one another. We can do so much to make another person’s day go smoother if we all do something kind for someone else everyday.

Prayer cost nothing and sometime it is what a person needs the most. When people told me they were praying for me when I was so sick with cancer that meant the world to me. I still think prayer is the greatest gift one can get.

Other things that lifted me up were the cards I received from people. Sometime it was just the words I needed to hear or something that someone wrote in the card that lifted my spirit.

It has been said often but maybe not often enough how important being kind to one another is What a change we might make in our world. Be ye Kind One to Another! Some great words given to us by the Bible still hold so true today.

Sue Staton is a Clark County native. She is a wife, mother and grandmother who is active in her church, First United Methodist Church, and her homemakers group, Towne and Country Homemakers.