Earlier this afternoon I was leaving a restaurant with my fiancee. As we made our journey to the car we noticed an elderly woman crossing a major road. Her body bent at a 90 degree angle, she shuffled across, gripping her walker for dear life. The fiancee and I just stopped and watched in horror as car after car came to abrupt stops to avoid hitting this woman. We were frozen with fear, curiosity, and an inability to know what to do. A moment later a patron of the restaurant, dressed in his Sunday best, ran out into the street (from his booth in the restaurant, mind you) and helped this woman make it across the road safely. Once the hero and the elderly woman were out of harm's way, we watched as they exchanged a few words, she thanking him for his kind action. This man then went on to place what appeared to be a few twenty dollar bills into her withered hand. She thanked him repeatedly and they both went about their business.
Forty-five minutes before this heroic scene, I sat in a sticky booth in that restaurant complaining about my "terrible life." I carried on about how I feel like such a failure because I wasn't asked back to my teaching position and will be subsequently unemployed in ten days. I also made it a point to mention my inability to lose weight, how repulsive I felt, and that I'd never lose enough weight to fit into my dress for our upcoming wedding.
I've got problems.
I will never be able to grasp the concept of self-pity when there are people in the world like that elderly woman. And I'm guilty beyond words. This woman clearly has some sort of debilitating condition that leaves her body in a near non-functioning state. Yet she continues on with her life and does what she needs to survive. And here I am, acting as if my life is ending. I will still have food to eat, a warm bed in which to sleep, and a vehicle at my disposal to transport me anywhere I need. It just doesn't make sense.
I wonder why it's so difficult to be truly thankful for what we have in life? Why does it require seeing events like I witnessed today to make you take a step back and realize things in your life are pretty damned good compared to many in this world? Is our superficial, materialistic culture so accustomed to always wanting and needing more that we never realize we already have more than enough and we're fine just the way we are?
Looking back and reflecting on the day's events, I'm terribly ashamed of my behavior. I wish it didn't take seeing this woman to make me understand that my life is pretty damned good, but it did. I sincerely hope that from each day forward I'm able to be nothing but grateful for the blessings in my life and be thankful that I have yet another day to awaken in a warm bed and not worry about securing my next meal.
Food for thought.
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