Look to the stars…

Both should have died, yet here they were, alive. Wounded and sharing a room while they recovered.

One soldier was confined to a bed, flat on his back. The other had progressed enough to sit in a chair beside the small window.

Every day, the young marine who couldn’t walk yet would stare at the ceiling and ask the soldier by the window what he saw out the window.

Sometimes he told his buddy about kids swinging on the swing set, describing vibrant colored clothes in great detail. One day, he gave a play-by-play of children playing baseball. Another time, they both laughed as he told how the puppy chased after an ice cream truck. More than once, he longed for home as his buddy talked about the lovers who strolled hand in hand through the park.

Soon, the soldier by the window was well enough to go home, but the young marine was still confined to bed. There were no more stories from the window. He grew weary of staring at the ceiling and asked for his bed to be moved closer to the window so he could look out.

After the staff arranged his bed by the window, the marine said, “Sit me up so I can see out.”

He was so excited to see the outside world and all his friend had described. But when they drew the curtains, his view was a solid brick wall.

“I don’t understand,” he said. “Where is the park? The trees, and the benches the couples sit on? Where are the kids on the swings and playing baseball?”

“What do you mean, sir?”

“My friend, he used to sit by the window and tell me all about the things happening just outside the window. All that is here is a brick wall. Why did they block the view with a wall?”

“Sir, the wall has been there the whole time. Your friend lost his sight in the accident. He was blind.”

This story is not original to me; I heard it somewhere over the years but don’t remember where, so I cannot give proper credit. Regardless of the origin, the point remains: our outlook is more important than our current condition.

We’re all trying to live life the best we can, and sometimes we all end up in the gutter. You’ll remain in the gutter if that’s where your focus is; to get out, you gotta look up.

If you find yourself in a gutter, look up, the stars offer a much better view.