Baggage

In life, you journey with others. Your family, your peers, your friends, etc. Like with any venture, you carry with you the things you need, the things you think you need, and all the extra baggage you just can't seen to leave behind. When you put all that weight together and toss it on your back, all it just feels like baggage     annoying, heavy, unnecessary baggage.

Now, there are moments (rare for some, maybe not so much for others) when someone you're walking with takes a moment to relieve themselves by throwing down their knapsack. We expect this; it's a natural occurrence. And anyone who has ever established human relationships prepares themselves to help their fellow man shoulder the load     take some of the baggage and help them carry on despite the struggle. We do it because we care for the person and/or because we feel that it is a moral responsibility of ours to help. Either way, we know what needs to be done. Some might hold one handle while the other person holds another. Some may sling the bag over their shoulders. Others might result to dragging. Hey, whatever best floats your kayak.

The issue comes when, unexpectedly the baggage is dropped right on top of your foot. Ouch. And unless you walk prepared with some steel-toed boots, you are seemingly left with two options. You can externalize your prevalent physical discomfort, or you can suppress your vocalizers and simply walk along with a throbbing big toe that few (if any) will acknowledge     leaving you alone in your struggle with no outlet.

Say you let out your inner "yelp." You let the complaints and brain-stream thoughts flow free. I imagine the person who dropped the load would internalize some of that and be left peeved, if not offended. Unless you are walking this life journey blind or totally clueless, that's something you would pick up on. So what are you left with now? Additional baggage. Baggage that was not originally yours but has tumbled its way into your suitcase; the evidence of this event being found in your swollen, more-sensitive-than-usual big toe. Should have strapped on those steel-toed boots, ol' chap. Well, there's hind-sight for ya.

The question you're left with is this: Will my journey accompanist come and take back what they dropped in your luggage? Or do you need to start learning how to really lift with your legs? (Because let's be honest, almost no one has truly mastered that.) Better yet, how long should you let this burden get to you? I mean, it may currently be dragging you down or hindering progress, but how do you put an end to that? Do you learn to deal? Do you unload some of your own weight onto the person who graciously heave-hoed onto your tiny lower extremity? Is that too spiteful? Perhaps even petty? Maybe you can slingshot the excess onto the nearest cactus so it can deflate and dissolve... Maybe.

Luck may even work in you favor, and the bulk won't spontaneously boomerang back to nail you in the forehead. If going this route, it's probably best to go with a slingshot method     shot-put the nonsense as far as it will go and then pace yourself for additional distancing. You cannot ball-and chain yourself, even if the weight seems to attach itself there. Because if you let the packs of others be shoveled onto you without consent or compromise, you'll find yourself becoming subject to that baggage     that annoying, heavy, unnecessary baggage.