Shoulder of the Year

I’ve wondered which the most important part of our body is.

The eye to see the beauty around us, the ear to listen to the melodious symphony of the world, the heart to emote and love, are all important and recognised.

 One part of the body seldom mentioned is one’s shoulder. The moment you read 'shoulder', you would have gone “Whaaaaat?” in your head. But yes, you did read it right. The shoulder.

Imagine one of those days when life was all dull and low, or when you only had gone through one of life’s tragedies. You best friend comes over and you hug her/him, and find solace in the comfort of their shoulder. Or think of one of times when the girl/guy you love puts her/his head on your shoulder and tells you how much she loves you.

Instant relief, that’s the word.

Every embrace has the shoulder involved. Whether it be of a mother embracing the child, protecting him/her from the calamities of the world, or of the brother comforting the sister for her loss in the finals of her badminton match. The shoulder experiences love, joy, happiness, sorrow. It has always amazed me why it was never realised till date, well not in my experience at least.

Speaking of which, this piece is about how, like the shoulder, your value is often lost because of the involuntariness or whatever it is that makes you so insignificant when you’re the shoulder people lean on.

I’ve had a lot of experience with people. Now obviously this does NOT make me an expert of people, but that’s never really stopped me from saying anything about it. And I help my friends out, just like any other friend does, or at least like I assume, does. When they have a problem, and they come to me, crying sometimes, I offer them the shoulder to cry on, lean on, rest on, or just wait for retrospection, as it sometimes does happen. But what I found out is that sometimes NOT being there is the key to finding value in life. I have no complaints with the way things work out in life for me, but I can’t help but wonder why this happens. 

Word is that when you’re around people and hang out with them too much, they lose interest in you. 

Even I know that’s full of crap.

The more you get to know someone the better you should be able to understand what that person’s needs are, and hence know if he needs a hug, or a warm squeeze of the hand. I’ve been there for a lot of my friends, and lately I’ve given support to many. They keep telling me how good a shoulder I’ve been to them and how I’m a great friend and all the other conventional bullshit you hear from people. And what happens when I need someone around? 

I don’t think it’s necessary to write that one down for you to guess it.

I’m upset. I need a shoulder to lean on to. It’s sad really that I even have to ask for it. 

Good Mr.Shoulder –of-the-Year has no shoulder to lean on.

The irony of it all.