Here I am, being met with a Circumstance. And though it isn't my own to personally bear, I feel the weight of it all the same. My first thought is that this is a worrying thing; that I should ready myself with at least some semblance of strength - one where I would hold myself firm, and tough, and steady. But I walk behind the person who bears the Circumstance, and he cracks a joke. The next person whose eyes I meet, who knows the Circumstance for what it was, too, cracks another. Her face lights up with the very hint of a smile and it is telling. I see you, it says. Everything is going to be okay. And it is in this simple exchange, that what was once seemingly serious and a thing to draw out a tough exterior for, I find myself beginning to consider what it really was: a circumstance, rightfully of significance at its own, but one which had not so big a weight attached to it as I had first thought.

So I returned the smile, feeling lighter for all that had been made so and with it thinking to myself how we could all use a little bit more light here.