The Privilege of a Flashback

How different might life be if everyone earned the privilege of a flashback?

When we interacted with folks, what if we could see through their actions to the road that brought them where they are today?

How differently might we react or respond to one another if we were allowed to peek through a hazy looking glass into a past that reveals others, like us, are simply trying to figure things out, heal wounds and find a sliver of an answer?

If we granted others the privilege of a flashback, we would be able to see mistakes and failures and poor decisions and the root causes, perhaps, of anger, jadedness.

We would also see the quiet hours of an earnest friend, toiling away at a task that will never bring them recognition. We may witness the silent dedication of someone who's found something they love or the good another does in secret.

Would it work - to see life this way?

Perhaps one of the only things we all share is the desire to understand the echoes inside of us and, somehow, find a way to figure things out - to get It right.

That's it.

We close parts of ourselves off because of wounds, we get angry because we fear the unknown and we overcompensate because all we really want is to be accepted.

We're not so different after all.