[aageneral] When the Messsage Light Doesn't Blink

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__________

WHEN THE MESSAGE LIGHT DOESN'T BLINK

Seeing one of her neighbor's children playing alone, a woman asked him
where his brother was. "Oh," he said, "he's in the house playing a
duet. I finished first."

Too many people find themselves playing a duet alone. Too many people
are lonely. They rise alone in the morning, they eat meals alone, they
watch television alone and retire alone in the evening. They have too
few friends and family to share their lives with. It feels as if they
should be playing a duet or an ensemble and everyone else finished
first. They are more than alone; they are lonely.

"I don't have an answering machine," one man said. "I live alone, and
I'm sometimes told that I've missed calls when I've been out. ‘You
should really get an answering machine,' my friends tell me, but I
won't. I don't want to come home to find the message light not
blinking. I don't want to know with such certainty that no one tried
to get in touch. It's worth missing a message or two to avoid that."

A folktale tells of a monarch long ago who had twin sons. There was
some confusion about which one was born first. As they grew to young
manhood, the king sought a fair way to designate one of them as crown
prince.

Calling them to his council chamber one day, he said, "My sons, the
day will come when one of you must succeed me as king. The burdens of
sovereignty are very heavy. To find out which of you is better able to
bear them cheerfully, I am sending you together to a far corner of the
kingdom. One of my advisors there will place equal burdens on your
shoulders. My crown will one day go to the one who first returns
bearing his burden like a king should."

In a spirit of friendly competition, the brothers set out together.
Soon they overtook a frail and aged woman struggling under a heavy
weight. One of the boys suggested that they stop to help her. The
other protested: "We have a burden of our own to worry about. Let us
be on our way."

So the second son hurried on while the other stayed behind to help the
woman with her load. On his journey to the kingdom's edge, the same
young man found others who needed help. A sightless man who needed
assistance home; a lost child whom he carried back to her worried
parents; a farmer whose wagon needed a strong shoulder to push it out
of the mud.

Eventually he did reach his father's advisor, where he secured his own
burden and started home with it safely on his shoulders. When he
arrived back at the palace, his brother met him at the gate and
greeted him with dismay. "I don't understand," the brother said, "I
told Father the burden was too heavy to carry. How did you manage it
alone?"

The future king replied thoughtfully, "I suppose when I helped others
carry their burdens, I found the strength to carry my own."

Isn't that the secret of living with loneliness? When we find others
who need help with their burdens, we also find the strength to carry
our own! Get busy helping others, even if it is nothing more than
making a phone call or writing an encouraging note, and you'll find
that your burden of loneliness will become easier and easier to
manage. And soon you'll be too happy and busy to even notice if the
message light is blinking.
__________

Steve Goodier Publisher@LifeSupportSystem.com is a professional
speaker, consultant and author of numerous books. Visit his site for
more information, or to sign up for his FREE newsletter of Life, Love
and Laughter at http://LifeSupportSystem.com.

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