My mother was one of the broken people. Things like an inflated self image are casualties of being admitted to a mental ward. It is not that her humanity was marred, just that annoying tendency to favor ourselves in all situations. 

 

I have a friend who has seen the inside of a few locked facilities. Made a few public bloopers in her day too. Not like those of us who manage to face plant in private. Yet being in her presence is like that feeling after a fierce rain. There are branches in the yard to pick up, and a few chairs were blown over. But those humid qualities like trying to impress people, and believing that you are the smartest person in the room have blustered away. 

 

I read a story about a man who fancied himself generous when he gave two second hand shirts to a child after a flood. The next day he noticed a different boy wearing one of them. When he saw the first child he asked about it. 

 

"What happened to the other shirt I gave you?" 

 

The child cocked his head. 

 

"I can't wear two at once, so I gave one to Mario."

 

Sometimes I call myself magnanimous when I gift a quilt at a wedding, or take a couple out for lunch. But that child freely shared half of what he owned. 

 

I have a very, very long way to go.