Thick skin, hard heart, but a straw can break ya.

Does anyone believe in karma? Or do some people just have bad luck? It’s a topic disputed by most – and resolved by no one. Adults, children, friends are all people I’ve heard ask the same question “hey – didn’t God create sin?” No people. Our ancestors did when they ate the apple – free will blocks you from truly doing what’s good, because it gives you the choice not to, and most people choose the latter.

So is it the bad people that do these things to good people? Think about it… if something really terrible happens to you, who is to blame? Are you to blame for not preventing it? Or maybe it was a lapse in judgment, or trusting someone a little too much?

Someone close to me has been completely slighted by almost every one she trusted and she is certainly unworthy of it. When she tells me her latest story she typically ends them with: "don't piss on me and tell me it's raining!" Every day she deals with the emotional rebuild and conflicts of interests as she puts her life back together. Can you imagine day after day, putting your best foot forward, but secretly feeling like a stack of blocks built too high and just waiting for a slight tremor in the ground to break you apart? She knows the feeling of the phrase: “the straw that broke the camel’s back” because she has a stack of hay sitting tall and piece after piece gets added with more surprises and more distractions. But what can you do? You can’t take on her weight of the world or weight of the straw (just to keep the analogy going) and you certainly don’t care to be in her shoes. So all you can do is hope things will get better and pray… and that’s all she does too.

I think about her on my long runs and what if any thing I can do. But then I also look at the countless people I pass and wonder, “What’s her story?” Like on the train, when you see people crying do you ever wonder, “What the heck happen that was so terrible you couldn’t wait to go home to cry?” I’ll tell you – that damn straw just broke someone’s back. For the most part I don’t think people are weak, I think it takes a lot to break someone down… and even the strongest can be broken. And when they fall they fall hard.

But I’ll tell you something else, if you break down someone strong be ready for the rebuild – bigger, stronger, better than ever. And if you thought it took a lot to break them before, beware my dear reader, of the product you'll get after the rebuild.