Ships, Soap and Sunshine

Recently, I read a quote that was Shared on Facebook that disturbed me.  The skinny of it was that too many people bail out of relationships - be they marriages, family or friends - when the person with whom we are in said relationship shows their true colors during their time of dire need, desperation and despair.  And that we should "serve" and "be" with someone "in spite of their filthy heart."  It then goes on to speak of Love being patient, kind and deliberate, sacrificial and so on.  Then mentioned is recognizing the "darkness" in another person and not following your impulse to "jump ship".  Okay, really?

Now I realize that this author's meaning and how he or she believes and relates to what they wrote is very personal and can be construed in many ways by different people.  I get that.  How we absorb and translate every writing is personal.  For instance, I translate a "filthy heart" and "darkness" as attributes of a person I want nowhere near me. If I discover that an individual chooses not to and/or is incapable of putting some soap and water to their heart and chooses to stay in the dark and not find some sunlight, you're damn straight I'm jumping ship.  That's like choosing to remain on a scurvy-invested vessel instead of hopping on a lifeboat and paddling away.  No matter how difficult.  We can only lend someone a bar of soap and a bucket of water so many times.  We can lead another person to a patch of sun, but we cannot make them bathe in its light.  We can try and teach our family member/friend/lover/spouse/fill-in-the-blank how to scrub and seek out the warm, sunny spots, but we cannot force them to believe they can do it on their own.  I find it challenging enough to do this for myself every day.

The years have delivered me knowledge and realization, with much more to come, of course.  What I do know is surrounding oneself with as much fabulous as you can muster and eliminating that which makes one feel non-fabulous as much as possible has had a tremendous impact within me and my outlook as it comes to this life.  Have I jumped ship prematurely in the past?  I'm sure I have.  Will I do it in the future?  I sure hope not.  Has someone(s) chosen to haul off the Ship Laura?  You betcha.  But I'll tell you one thing, I'll fight a helluva battle before surrendering.  This is a Doing What I Know.