What we carry
Everybody is carrying something, whether it’s bags or babies, burdens or secrets.
A lot of city folk carry bags. Computer bags, briefcases, lunch bags, shopping bags, the bag that goes with a stroller, handbags, every kind of bag.
Tourists also carry a lot. They carry their precious rucksacks and cameras, those tiny silly things you carry around your waist to keep your money safe, maps, umbrellas, water bottles, and also they carry shopping bags, maybe from souvenir shops.
Pensioners don’t carry anything, but they are pulling rolling bags instead, full of highly useful things, such as tic tacs, handkerchiefs, a wallet full of coins, scarves, umbrellas, band aids, you name it, they have it.
Younger people, such as myself, carry mostly hand or shoulder bags. They also contain useful things, such as a not as full wallet as you would wish for, a cell phone, in my case some make up, a pair of gloves, maybe even some candy if you’re lucky. The boys on the other hand carry mostly shoulder bags if any, and in them you can find a music player, maybe a hat, sometimes a wallet, some of them even put their coats in there too.
But no matter what kind of person you are, and no matter how much you leave at home before going out, you always carry heavy things on your shoulders called burdens, or secrets in some cases. Sometimes they are the same thing.
Some people have heavier burdens than others, some have almost none at all, but they’re always there. Whether it’s money related, or people related, or love related, it’s almost always there. If you look at a random person on the street, can you imagine what his or her burdens are? Probably not, except from a few cases where the problem is rather obvious, but mostly people hide it. Hence the word ‘secrets’.
People aren’t proud of their burdens, so they keep them hidden. They might tell a few close friends, or the entire world, depending on how much they want people to pity them.
I carry burdens that I thought were huge until a month ago. It’s awful, really, that someone else’s miserable life can make you feel so much better about yourself. Sure, I bet you do pity the poor thing who’s been having a tougher time than you, but still you can’t help feeling better. Or, sometimes, it makes you feel like you want to dig up something even worse, just to make everybody pity you even more.
It’s an awful, but sadly true thing that occurs in our world and society, way too often. We all want to be the one who saves the world.
Or, do we? Isn’t it more likely that we want to be the ones who get saved from world destruction? We all want to be saved by a stronger person, who has no burdens of their own, so he or she can carry some of our. You all know that it’s true, deep down, but you probably won’t admit it. Because that would make you a weak person, who shows all your secrets and burdens to the entire world, but you know that they won’t pity you. Not the least, as we all have the same problems, they just come in different shapes.