Forgotten

I wish I could show you a picture of my inspiration. An old, tired, used up tube of chapstick, lying on the ground in a crack on the sidewalk. The label faded and worn, scraped and ripped from being kicked around the sidewalk. Something once used and needed by someone, serving a purpose. Now lost, discarded, and forgotten, stepped on and over by strangers passing heedlessly. Alone in a world that no longer needs it.

Far too often we view others as that expired tube of chapstick - worn out, old, and finished. We discard them without a second thought, their usefulness forgotten in a heartbeat as we go to find someone or something new in life, something more exciting. Too often we simply forget those who have helped us along the way, those who were so important to us at one point, now become simply waste.

We too easily forget just how much people mean to us. We cast them away without that second thought, and there may be no one left for them in the world at that point. We use and lose. Can there be a more insensitive thing, to leave someone, forgotten to the world? I don't think there is, but it happens all the time. I've done it myself. I've been forgotten myself. I think at some time or another, we have all been on both sides of this coin. The question is, when do we break the cycle? When do we stop to pick up that chapstick that we discarded, or another discarded? When do we stop to lose those we once held close and dear, no matter how tired or beat or worn? So I take a moment to encourage you to stop, think, look around. Who is in your life who means a lot to you, who has helped you through the hard times? Who maybe did you once know that you no longer talk to, who has fallen by the wayside in your journey of life? Take a moment, reach out, say hello. Remind someone that they're important to you, that they make a difference in your life. Don't let them become that forgotten chapstick. Don't let them be forgotten.