You may be able to wear those same shoes!

There were some kids sitting outside on a stoop.

They were having a ball laughing and pointing at everyone who walked pass.

They made fun of the man with the limp, the woman struggling to carry all of her grocery bags. They also made fun of the couple whose clothes were worn, dirty, and old. They laughed at the woman missing all but one of her teeth.

They made fun of the beggin’ addict and how the irate alcoholic slurred his words. Everything made them laugh from the sound of someone passing gas to the vivid misfortune of those living right there in their community.

They gathered there on that stoop and laughed much like we did when we were younger.

When we were younger everything was funny to us to, we breezed through life, lived in the moment.

We lacked the mental capacity to understand that there are consequences for every one of our actions, also that there are some things that are inevitable, and that your past follows you.

Even in making all the “right”, logical, good, beneficial choices you may find yourself where you never expected to be.

The man with the limp, I know him personally and I am the woman struggling to carry all my grocery bags.

The couples whose clothes are worn, dirty, and old were once in a position to help others, but now they reside in the housing projects struggling to help their selves, trying to manage their misery.

The woman missing all but one of her teeth is one of my closest friends.

I have heard from others that the kind-hearted boy that I attended grade school with is now a beggin’ addict.

The irate alcoholic was once the most athletic and intellectually vibrant person I knew.

We are no longer the kids on the stoop, laughing and breezing through life.

We have become what we had no expectation of becoming.

Laughing is wonderful, joking is permissible, but when it is at the expense of others it is questionable.

We often laugh or poke fun when it is not us or when we believe that it could never be us or someone we love.

It is only funny when you aren’t in those same shoes or when you can’t see yourself in those same shoes faced with that same circumstance!

Be careful you may be able to wear those same shoes!