It's quite comical to me and a rather dumb concept to think that we judge a person's happiness and well-being off of solely their actions, feelings, appearance, and our current knowledge of them. I'm sure you have came across that cliche saying, by Wendy Mass, "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about." I feel that this doesn't exactly hit home other than stressing to the reader how one should behave. I would like to challenge you to analyze yourself as you view this common issue of today's society with an open mind.

Every morning the ringing of our alarm clocks seemingly get louder as we are forced to snap back to reality. Reality means getting out from under the covers and that comforting warm spot in your bed that seems to fit the curves of your body perfectly. Reality means wiping the crusties from your eyes as you prepare yourself for yet another day. Although, most of all, reality means coming to terms with your struggles, fears, and feelings. Of course we all love that escape from reality that sleep gives us. In fact, when life seems to get so hard and you no longer want to fight, I bet that there are more people than you can count who go to bed at night and pray that they don't wake up the next morning. Everyone is going through something in their life that is testing their strength, and that "perfect" life doesn't exist (I apologize if you had your mind set on this). We all take a quick glance at strangers thinking that they have everything going for them just because of how they seem to carry themselves with grace. News flash... that is exactly how you are coming off to them, yet you don't have everything going for you, do you? Truth be told, no matter what someone's outside appearance is telling us, every last person has something (more likely than not several things) going wrong for them.

So, why are we so quick to judge people and to not give them the benefit of the doubt? So often, we are so wrapped up in our life and our own problems (which is okay to a certain degree) that we forget that everyone is in the same boat. That friend you are giving a cold shoulder to because she hasn't checked in on you? Her boyfriend just broke up with her. That person who cut you off on your way to work? Their mom is dying in the hospital. That person who didn't thank you for holding the door for them and came off as rude? They were just given the news that they have cancer. These days, we are so quick to blame and we are so quick to think poorly of others. Try for a week to view every situation with an open mind, I guarantee it will serve as an eye opener to you.

Remember, not everybody is facing the same problems, after all, we do not all live the same life. People's problems lie within a wide spectrum of things. Everyday, people are faced with issues that can be anything from a death in their family, bullying, their heath could have taken a turn for the worse, a bad breakup, family problems, depression, there are endless things that can be going wrong for someone. With that being said, keep in mind that just because you know that one thing isn't going wrong for them doesn't mean a million other things are not.

They seem fine though, you may be telling yourself. Well, when everything is going wrong with you, do you walk around with a weight on your shoulders, puffy eyes from the sobs, and a doleful expression? No. Those are the things that you save for behind closed doors in the place that you call home. It's the only place you don't need to paint a smile on your face and pretend you're happy. It's that comfort place where it is OK to break down and let the sobs rake your body as you let your emotions flow. Therefore, just as everybody appears to you is how you appear to them. They don't notice anything off or different about you because you hide your true feelings from them, which is human nature. You don't need to let everybody in but keep in mind that everybody doesn't need to let you in either.

Put yourself in the other persons shoes, I promise this won't be hard because you are already in their shoes, just in a different way. Stop thinking you are the only one who has it hard and bad; everyone does. We are all in the same boat. Why separate ourselves when we can join together and create a infinite amount of strength, motivation, and help for each other? Why knock each other down when we can use our experience to help each other up? Why make yourself feel alone when you are surrounded by tens, hundreds, thousands, millions, and billions of people who can be right there with you?

I guess what I'm getting at and what I want to be taken away is we are all facing a battle that we hide from showing on the outside. It's like we put a wall up in an attempt to not let people in. Instead, let's try to look at and view everyone and their possible situation with an open mind. After all, we are all in this together.