Sunshine After Pity-Parties

The other day it took Robin Williams to shake me from my doldrums. As I was mindlessly channel surfing, seeking something that might appeal, I happened on the movie Patch Adams, just as it was beginning. Have you ever seen it? I saw it years ago and remembered really enjoying it, so I settled down to watch.

If you have never seen it, it is the story of a man who, realizing he is suicidal, checks himself into a psychiatric hospital. While there, he realizes that he is able to help those around him and he decides then and there to check him out of the hospital and enter medical school. His unconventional behavior produces as much angst for him as it does satisfaction. In the overall message of the movie, I heard the words “follow your heart.” It is the uplifting kind of movie that gives you that kind of feeling that you can do anything. It was the message I needed to hear.

I had been feeling sorry for myself because of physical limitations which are slowing me down and making me feel less effective. Robin Williams, in his wonderfully inspirational way, caused me to re-realize that there will always be those who are stronger, smarter, and more talented than me. But life has graciously been given to us, and we have been blessed with certain gifts that are uniquely our own to share.

I just needed a reminder that there are things I can do to make people feel better, and I can still do them even if my body isn’t feeling quite right. I can still send a ray of sunshine into a life no matter where I am, or how un-able I become. I guess the moral of my story today is that we all have our “down” days, but we need to pick ourselves up, throw off our depression, and keep on trying.

Yes, the sun will rise tomorrow morning and it will be a new day…a new day to start all over again being the person I was meant to be.


Published by

The Prisoner's Prayer Book
