How Are You Really Doing?

Sometimes it's hard to wrap my mind around the best message for a blog post. My mission is to share true principles. Tonight I'm thinking about authenticity, telling the truth, being true, The Olympics and the Olympians I'm interviewing, and more.

But I think the best topic for tonight is one a text from my friend Bill brings up. Last week, Dave, a Facebook friend and childhood acquaintance, reposted a story from Natasha Howell, a black woman, about an experience she related with a police officer. 

Natasha's story, in a nutshell, is that a police officer asked her how she was doing, against the backdrop of high tension between blacks and police. She answered, "OK, and you?" He wasn't satisfied. He pressed, "How are you really doing?" She then answered honestly and they shared a moment. A pure, human to human connection of empathy and understanding. 

In today's chaotic world--political uncertainty, civil unrest, media and politicians fanning the flames of hate and discontent--it's important that we stop and ask each other, "How are you really doing?" Put aside differences, views, and agendas. 

At the top of Dave's post he stated, "How are you really doing? I care about all of you as people. Not your political views or how much you hate Hillary or Trump. Let's stop pushing out views and start asking each other, 'how are you really doing.'"

From what I can tell, Dave and I don't align religiously, we don't see eye to eye politically, and I bet we are far apart on significant issues. When I saw Dave's post, however, I knew he meant it. I knew he was more interested in connecting human to human than in getting caught up in what divides us. 

How often do we ask someone how they're doing and don't really care to know?

Let's look outward with compassion and understanding. Let's put aside those differences and care more about each other as individuals. Let's remember who we are and whose we are (thanks Katie Sue for the reminder) and find out how the other person is really doing.

So I ask you, "How are you really doing?" Let me know.