I’m really just using this prompt to journal something I’ve been thinking about, but I still will include the prompt because I think it’s a good metaphor.

I was just scrolling on my phone when I saw it. Someone’s pain posted to the world, but seen by less than ten. They said how they were suffering, how they didn’t want to be here anymore. It hurt to read. But what really broke my heart was that the first comment one someone saying “nobody cares”. How awful are people that when someone literally says “I don’t want to be here anymore” their first thought is to tell them that nobody cares? I tried to somehow help this stranger with a few words, “take it one day at a time, focus on the sunrises, you got this”, but it really scared me. Maybe they took my words and used them to push through, or maybe not. Maybe the only words they took to heart where that of the cruel, emotionless stranger. I’ll never know, they’re only a stranger on the internet. But their a stranger who is struggling, and they might lose the battle with their mind. I’ll never know, but I can’t stop thinking about it. Could I have said more, somehow helped them in some way? Or maybe I’m just overthinking it, and they’re okay now. But this brings in the question of “after the storm”, what do they do now, have the cruel stringers words stuck with them? What does a person do after a storm like that has raged in their mind? All are questions, none of which have answers. And I’ll never know, because they were just a stronger on the internet.

Words have a power greater then any other. They can make or break a person. As writers, we sometimes don’t realize the gravity of our words and how much they might help someone. If we try to send a message, we also never know if it ever helped our readers. They’re questions that keep us up at night, keep us typing away some more. ❤️