PTSD Patrol: hurting runs off my shoulders...

Friday, January 1, 2021

hurting runs off my shoulders...

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
January 1, 2021

A new year begins with hopeful hearts across the world after a horrible year. How do we know that? The people around the world joined in to sing Neil Diamond's iconic song Sweet Caroline!

"2020 has been a tough year for everyone, so we wanted to bring people together the best way we knew how: Through music," a message at the top of the video reads.

"To inspire people to come together, we challenged fans all around the world to sing along to 'Sweet Caroline,'" it adds.

The videos feature people alone and in small groups, as well as larger ones such as a baseball game and what seems like a wedding party, where the song can often be heard. USAToday

Emotional pain is not limited to nations or races, or sexes. It is not limited to the greedy or the needy. It hits all humans. The question is, what do we do about it? How do we respond to the needs of others or ourselves?

With hope because we do more than just feel sorry for others and others do more than just feel sorry for us. WE DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

Sweet Caroline

Neil Diamond

Where it began, I can't begin to knowing

But then I know it's growing strong

Was in the spring

And spring became the summer

Who'd have believed you'd come along

Hands, touching hands

Reaching out, touching me, touching you

Sweet Caroline

Good times never seemed so good

I've been inclined

To believe they never would

But now I

Look at the night and it don't seem so lonely

We filled it up with only two

And when I hurt

Hurting runs off my shoulders

How can I hurt when holding you

One, touching one

Reaching out, touching me, touching you

Sweet Caroline

Good times never seemed so good

I've been inclined

To believe they never would

Oh no, no

Sweet Caroline

Good times never seemed so good

Sweet Caroline

I believe they never could

Sweet Caroline

Good times never seemed so good

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Neil Diamond

Hurting doesn't just rub off the shoulders of anyone without help. Understanding with empathy, leads to inspiring empowerment action. Hope is fueled by the knowledge you matter to someone. Your outlook changes and hope shoves hurt off your shoulders! The thing is, hope is a very jealous thing allowing no room for anything else. It wants to spread out take over everything in your life, and is contagious. It wants to spread to everyone you know, everyone they know and even to strangers you encounter everyday.

Think of it this way. The cashier you smiled at, could have been having a rough day, but your smile and kindness changed their mood, and they changed the mood of hundreds of others shopping that day. Other cashiers noticed and their mood changed. They in turn, changed the mood of the shoppers in their line. Soon the manager notices and makes a happy announcement to everyone in the store. Then the managers of other stores are made aware of what is going on, so they do the same and thousands of moods are changed for more and then they pass it on.

This is the reason I do what I do. I know what it is like to be hurting, lonely, hopeless and not wanting to get up out of bed. On the flip side, I also know what healing is like because I found what I needed to so that I could heal the cracks in my soul. I found what I needed to change my husband's life and give him hope. After that, it seemed only natural to share what I could to change the moods of everyone I could reach, knowing they would reach others and change their moods too.

Last night as I was praying, I thanked God for the mission He set me on way back in 1982. I thanked Him for the inspiration of these daily videos for everyone, even while lamenting about having to walk away from just working with veterans and their families. They couldn't find me anymore because the internet got too crowded. With over 8 million others dealing with PTSD in this country alone, topped off with a raging pandemic, isolation and loneliness, it seems the right time to shift. I don't regret it.

The only way this work gets shared, like the smile given to a cashier, is for you to share it. Other people didn't know who started the chain reaction but it still changed their days. If you are reading this, then please share it. If you are watching the videos, please share them too. Give me credit or not, that doesn't matter. The mission is to change lives not to take credit for what God put in my heart to do.