Dear friends,
I hope this meditation will provide each of us with an opportunity for good.
A chance to discover if someone we know needs a little more attention than might be thought at first glance.
Watching out for each other can make such a difference.
It could change someone's life or even save someone's life.
We all know how superficial our interactions can be.
We meet someone with the greeting,
How are you?
Admittedly,
We are not expecting a live story in reply.
But the reply can frequently be just a repeat of the question,
How are you?
An unoffensive,
Simple little exchange,
Which simply means,
Hello,
Hello.
Hopefully we can do more than this.
Maybe in the days ahead,
You would select someone you know and,
In a more meaningful way,
Ask them how they are doing.
Are they okay?
Hopefully they will notice the difference between a basic,
How are you,
And your expression of real interest.
They might come back to you to say that there is something,
Something on their minds that they would like to share.
My sister Celia in Australia tells me that there they have an annual,
Are you okay,
Day.
On the second Thursday in September,
Advertised by the letters are you okay,
This question is encouraged by the wearing of armbands,
Headbands,
T-shirts,
Stickers,
And who knows what else.
All of this is designed to remove any stigma attached to sharing our real feelings with someone who asks us how we are doing,
And they ask it in an interested way.
But we don't have to confine our interest in other people to one day in the year.
Today,
Tomorrow,
Any day,
And every day,
Any of us can look to someone with real interest and ask if everything is going alright.
The subtitle to the Australian Are You Okay Project are these words.
A conversation could change a life.
A conversation could change a life.
What a thought.
Indeed it could,
And each of us has the power to start such a conversation.
May it be you.
May it be me.
May it be this week.
Namaste.
