A Tough Day …

Let me just say … it has been a tough day. Physically, mentally, emotionally exhausting. I was confronted with several “realities” today but I just want to mention one part of one interaction I had with one human being today. Basically, I met a total stranger who had … essentially nothing (or, at least from what I saw, very little). He had a small “house” / trailer about the size of my bedroom (one of my bedrooms …) and he had just had open heart surgery. The “house” looked like it was open to the elements in some areas and it was right off a fairly major road. I delivered a few things to him and I genuinely wondered how he was even going to fit them in his “house,” even if there was nothing else in there.

I don’t want to go into any more specifics but I will say two more things – I have done this for others who have been very affluent and obviously had more than enough to “get by” on and with – and these people, more or less, have been the snootiest like “hurry it up, I’M BUSY” kind of people. And, to date, out of all these people, the only person who gave me $$ for my assistance was this man. This man had NOTHING and he was giving me his money.

I drove home, at first happy because at least I had helped serve this man’s basic needs; that is, I am a reliable person when I need to be / am needed, and I know I would never give anyone anything but the “best” of what is available (that is, if there were a rotten tomato in a box of tomatoes I would hunt for the box that has all perfect tomatoes … if that makes any sense!). He told me he had just had open-heart surgery and was told not to physically exert himself. He had just had surgery; he did not even have a coat; he had no car; he had a small “house” probably about the size of half of my parent’s shed. And still this man out of all the people I have encountered was the ONLY ONE TO TRY TO REPAY THE “KINDNESS.”

This speaks to my last post about the KKKKK…. yeah. Like, honey, if you have even hundreds of thousands of dollars, there is a lot you can do with that money to help others in need. So I don’t want to hear BS about how giving and charitable any of these fools are – they are not. They would have to literally donate hundreds of millions of dollars or more to come anywhere near that sort of definition. And we all know that isn’t happening (along with the evident racial issues with which I take extreme issue … and I am not even an obviously “mixed race” sort of person despite being one!). At any rate, I just want everyone who is reading this or who might read it in the future – 1. remember that those who tend to have the least tend to give the most (i.e., turn that around = if you are given a lot by someone, stick to the “assumption” that person might not have a lot to give) and 2. REMEMBER HOW BLOODY FORTUNATE YOU ARE (AND I AM!)! None of us is sitting here on WordPress or reading through blogs or watching Netflix shows who is in a war zone or who has no running water or electricity in his or her home. We really are – even those of us with chronic illness (although perhaps less in this country than others … which is yet another series of posts!) – very fortunate people as far as the world as a whole is concerned. And things are just going to get more and more “scary” and things and resources are just going to become scarcer and scarcer as time goes on because there are more people, especially in developing countries, and there are more people in DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES OUTRIGHT REFUSING TO CHANGE LITTLE THINGS THAT WILL HELP THE WORLD (and therefore themselves and their children. That one is something I just will never understand – it doesn’t matter if you have $1,000,000,000,000, if you live in a world that has no clean water to drink and no clean air to breathe, you ain’ gon’ survive! THE END!). So. With all of THAT ranting done, just please take a moment today and every day and not only recognize your fortune and be thankful / grateful for it, but find some way to at least spread hope and joy to others who might be in desperate need of those things. I am a true believer that everything “good” stems from hope and that everything “bad” stems from either fear or abject complacency.

At any rate, I will end this post by just thanking the gentleman I was able to meet this afternoon who re-opened my eyes a little bit to the reality of the world in which we live. Truth be told, the way HE lives is FORTUNATE compared with how MOST OF THE WORLD LIVES. Please let that actually sink in. Teach your children by example; show them what gratitude is and what thankfulness looks like – don’t just keep buying them toys because you can or whatever it is you do (trying to get them out of your life so you have more time for yourself – TOO LATE, if that is your “prerogative,” you should have CHOSEN NOT TO HAVE KIDS! I know that sounds harsh, but it’s true – “our” children are just that – OURS; they are OUR future, and it is an IMMENSE responsibility to bring new life into the world; without absolute commitment, it is just … selfishness [see how I turned that sh!t around?]). At any rate (yet again!), just please realize how fortunate you (and I) really are. I plan on reflecting on this tonight and over the next few days … and I’m sure something will come of it. As the pastor at my “new” church says, “spread the love and hope of faith to those you meet.” I couldn’t say it any better.

❤ Always, Beth