Keeping up with the Joneses

I think we spend a lot of our time trying to look happy, to keep it all together, to have the right phones, the nice clothes, the comfy house. Its almost as though we think if we have everything looking good on the outside then everything will be okay on the inside. We don't want anyone to know that our brother does drugs, our best friend cuts them self or we stick our fingers down our throats after every meal. The credit card can be maxed, the final notices can come, the sleepless nights can continue as long as nobody ever finds out. We don't ever want to be one of the broken people. The ones lining up at food vans or sitting alone at the movies, The girl still wearing flares in 2010 or the guy who weighs 300kg. We will do everything possible to look the part, to play the roll, to say and do the correct things so that we are never the one people look twice at with that sad look of pity mixed with disgust.

And then something happens that changes everything. You crash your car or discover cancer or lose your job and you are forced to think, you can’t quite ever be as naive as you once were. People treat you differently, true friends get closer as masses fade away and in that moment you realize that there is very little that separates the “us” from the “them”

Smile often
Beth