I live in a glass house Stella

There is a man who stands at the foot of Spurling Hill every morning. This man wears a shirt with a saying on it to Stella. A curious man who says nothing but holds up the peace sign with his hand. And every day when we drive by, my children and I, can’t wait to see what his shirt says. And more importantly we are curious about who the man is and who Stella is. And what has caused him to have these sayings on his shirt addressed to Stella but there is no way that we can stop. No way we can ask who the man is and what Stella means to him.

But one thing I know for sure is that sometimes his messages to Stella resonate with me even when we laugh at the curious man. It is like he is a consciousness of his own - willing us to notice him and to read his message. Willing us to be curious and ask what his sayings mean. Willing us to think and to be compassionate.

The saying that resonates the most with me particularly in these trying times for me and our community, as a nation, is the one that says. “Don’t throw stones. I live in a glass house, Stella.”

A message we can all take to heart because each one of us lives in a glass house. A house which can be broken at any moment by the stones we throw at others. Because we have done things equally as bad as they have or experienced circumstances equally as bad if not worse than they have. So when we cast a stone at them, we are casting the stone back at ourselves endangering our own safety and security because at any point that stone will come back and break down our house.

So why do we cast stones? Why do we try to make people feel worse for the situations they find themselves in? Is it because deep down inside we are afraid that someone will find us out. Someone will discover who we really are and that we too have things to hide? Do we try our best to deflect the attention away from ourselves by throwing not one but many stones at others - falsely believing by doing so there will be no more stones left to be thrown at us?

If that is the case, we are in for a rude awakening because with every single stone we cast, we are creating karma for ourselves. With every stone that hits the glass house, we are creating an equal and opposite reaction that will eventually come back and not only hit our glass house but will shatter it. Leaving us open, exposed and unprotected from all the stones that come our way. Until each one of those stones pummels us to the ground. Leaving us wounded and in a heap because we forgot that every time we throw a stone we are exposing our own vulnerabilities to the world.

Only those that appreciate the glass house and know that it is fragile will know not to throw stones but to accept that at some point in our lives, we will stumble and fall. We will make mistakes. We will do things we are not proud of. And the reason we live in the glass house is so that everyone can see we are human just as they are. 

So we can see there is no need to throw stones to break down their glass house because we understand we all live in glass houses because we are all growing, learning and vulnerable.  We are all perfect imperfect beings prone to mistakes and mishaps.

To the man who stands at the bottom of Spurling Hill, thank you. We could all learn a lot from you rather than laughing at you because you are showing us your fragility and vulnerability every single day by standing there reminding us of how fragile we all are. Reminding us all we all live in glass houses so we need not cast stones at anyone. Because as the infamous bible quote says, “Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.” I know I don’t qualify. Do you?