Author unknown.
Amen to that. Food, shelter and safety for starters.
May 24, 2015
Taking Things for Granted
This entry was posted in Life As a Shared Adventure. Bookmark the permalink.
Author unknown.
Amen to that. Food, shelter and safety for starters.
May 24, 2015
Indeed, Jean. The joke currently being on me since there are people who take the bottom of the pyramid of human comfort for so granted they do not believe my day to day plight (cash flow by another name). I do have my pride. A luxury currently not affordable – but boy oh boy do I wish some people would realize how hard it is to swallow [your pride] and put your misery out there for public consumption in desperate hope of a helping hand. My divorce lawyer’s words ringing in my ears (and this is twenty years ago): “You will regret forfeiting those rights.” I do I do I do. Still, there is a price to be paid for my eternal optimism. Be generous now, forgive and forget, starve later.
However, to redress the balance: I dare say I am guilty of taking for granted my health. Which doesn’t mean I don’t feel for those who lack in that department. My hair stands on end being surrounded by friends and family, some older, some a little younger, who are inconvenienced and/or axed by minor and major ailments. I am totally bewildered by it. I try and hone my bed side manners but they have never been good. Brisk (a fine matron I’d make) at worst, kilos of refreshing grapes dispensed at best. Other than that I swear by the allround healing powers of camomile tea.
U
Camomile calms nerves, they say. I drink green tea which is suppose to make me live longer. 😀
Ursula,
There are millions of people who would willingly trade places with you. And a bit of humility and humor is a lot more fun than pride. You might wind up shedding a burden.
I do love hearing from you. You haven’t expired or lost your internet connection yet!
Quite right.
“I was crying for shoes till I saw a man with no legs.
I sat there whole night praying,
Thanking HIM for things Ive got,
Rather than grieving for those I have not.”
Excellent thought.
Yep.
So very true.
I find myself surrounded by people who never give their good fortune a second thought.
The majority of the clients that come to our clinic, drive cars that cost more than my house. They will chat about their vacations they are taking while I care for their pets and they will tell me about their purchases for their mega-mansions and yet they never think to tip me for caring your their furry family member. I live from paycheck to paycheck and they don’t have a clue.
But I also realize that at least I DO have a home and a job and transportation and good friends and able to buy food…. and then I realize I am rich too and very very lucky.
xoxo
Ditto–so true. To be grateful instead of disappointed is good.
Cindi,
You also have talent! Forget tips — it’s much better to use that talent to become an (at least partially) free-range human, IMHO.
A perfect reminder! Many of us are blessed beyond measure, yet we still don’t appreciate it…we want something different or we want something more. We both know happiness never comes to those who don’t appreciate what they already have. Again, a good reminder!
I agree. Gratitude is so important for happiness.
I would add water to that list. As our Central Texas community struggled through the effects of years of drought, including wildfires several years ago that destroyed almost 1,700 homes, my husband and I were also entering a period when we needed to dramatically trim our expenses. Our home was paid for and we had savings, but we were going to run out of money before I intended to leave this earth at the rate we were withdrawing money from savings. Since our water fees are high and I have an interest in conservation anyway, making any possible efforts to conserve water became one budget-saving effort we could make, among many others. At the same time, our community began legal battles with other, larger cities that want the right to draw water from our aquifer far into the future, so that our community would suffer consequences that could be dire. As I use shower warm-up water to refill the dog’s water bowl or bathwater to flush toilets or lug it outside to water our precious trees, I at first felt weird. We have low-flow toilets already, and a drip-irrigation system that wastes less water than other types of irrigation systems. Plus, I need a cane to walk outside on uneven ground. I felt as if someone were going to try to feature us on some reality-TV weird people show. However, now, even if we had more free money in our monthly budget, I wouldn’t go back to the way we used water previously. We’re helping ourselves and, hopefully, our community and the earth, too. I won’t compare myself to women in developing countries who walk miles for water, but I do have a different understanding of how important water conservation is for us all.
I thought about water, too. That’s going to be a big problem as the climate changes and the population grows. A resource that people will no doubt be fighting over.
What kind of trees do you have?
I missed your question when our Internet was down. Ironically, since I wrote about water and the years-long drought conditions here, the reason was that we’ve suddenly had such deluges of water that the entire Central Texas region is enduring flash floods. We have fig trees, some native-to-the-area Cassia trees and two oaks that we have added to the property and, in the case of the oaks, diligently nursed along. The Cassias do better in drought conditions.