The daily process of finding today’s topic, based on a letter of the alphabet, is highly enjoyable just by itself. The added benefits of daily posting, making new blogging friends, and the satisfaction of participating in a community event are just cream cheese frosting on the chocolate cake of my life.

When I was a girl riding along in the family station wagon in the backseat, I used to occupy my mind with a little game. As we drove by a home, with warm lamplight illuminating the front room, I would often glimpse a solitary person sitting, perhaps watching tv, perhaps reading, and I would be astounded once again by the thought that this solitary person had a life, with preferences, interests, dislikes, relationships, and promise. Every time, I would have this big “Aha!” moment as I connected with the truth of the bigger picture.

Years later, while reading my favorite The Growing Up Pains of Adrian Plass, I came across this phrase,

Everybody is I

And that pretty much summed up my childhood game (which I have continued with). Everybody I meet is the “I” of his or her own life. Everybody I meet has interests, a past, relationships, favorite foods, a broken dream or ten, needs, and an entire internal landscape. To the degree that I remember that,  I am empowered to offer kindness and compassion to people I cross paths with each day.

Do you have a similar phrase, one that is meaningful to you? In what ways have you had the experience of realizing that everybody is I?