I had an interesting conversation with our copier tech that was primarily about two things--appreciating life as it is, and remembering that whenever we think we're having a bad day, there are plenty of examples of people who are truly destitute, ill, etc., who live their lives despite terrible odds. An example is a mission trip he went on to Mexico, where he couldn't figure out why the village children kept staring at his shoes. They were people living around an old abandoned auto plant, sheltering in big storage containers and tapping into a water pipeline for plumbing. Most of them had no shoes, and some had never had shoes. His mission group, as they left, wound up giving every shoe in the group away, and in fact, emptied their suitcases and pretty much returned to the US in just what they were wearing.
It's something that really brought the point home. He wasn't preaching any religious or philosophical belief, we were just having a discussion, but it was an appropriate one, especially given how things have been difficult for me lately, and then the fact that I'm having another birthday in a couple of days. I learned to appreciate life more fully after getting hit by a car, but I haven't really done much to increase the meaning of and participation in life. That's something I really need to work on. And I'm going to start by having a better attitude in trying to solve my issues, and be grateful for my life. So now, as I begin my own 'personal' year, I'll do little things that will improve my life overall, with the hope of a cumulative effect. And I'm going to stop whining, so you don't have to listen to it. It's better to meet life head-on, don't you think?
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