Other People Have It Worse

What a horrible phrase.

A string of words that

steals the air from your lungs,

right when you're already gasping.

A phrase used by the mistreated,

and the ones who mistreat.

If you’ve been hurt,

maybe you’ve been taught

to shrink your pain.

To measure your suffering

against someone else’s,

as if pain is a contest,

as if smaller wounds don’t still bleed.

Maybe you say it as a joke,

or whisper it under your breath,

just trying to make peace with the weight you carry.

And the ones who say it to you?

Maybe they’ve been hardened by their own battles.

Maybe they never learned

how to sit with someone else’s pain.

Maybe they’re the very reason you're hurting.

What may seem like nothing to you

could be everything to someone else.

We all see the world through different eyes,

process life through different minds.

On the outside, things might look easy.

On the inside, a war could be raging.

Your troubles are not small.

And you are not made small by your troubles.

You're just human.