Feeling useless

Sometimes you feel useless. You might be doing well professionally. And not doing too badly on the financial front either. You might have stacks of people you can call friends. And yet some things can make you feel useless.

One of my friends was very upset in the evening today. Worse, she was quietly upset. She is not the quiet type. If anything, she is one of the most chirpy people I know, seldom at a loss for words. A person who makes places come alive. Even when she is upset, she normally makes her feelings known. And the Lord help you if she is angry.

But today, she was upset. And very quiet. I did not know why.

I tried cheering her up. She gave one smile. And went off to spend some time by herself.

And I felt useless.

Would she have felt better if I had told her how worried I was about her? Would she have felt better if I had told her that I thought she was one of the most creative people I have come across, in terms of generating ideas? Would she have felt better if I had told her that I really envied her ability to work hard, even when she did not get the credit she deserved? Would she have felt better if I had told her that she was one of the most honest people I know and a credit to her profession?

Or would it have helped to have told her that she is one of the few people who makes me feel strangely lonely whenever she leaves?

I don’t know the answers. All I know is that she was upset. And I could not cheer her up.

Sometimes you feel useless.

Because that is exactly what you are, if you cannot make a friend feel better.