Open Writing

Now and then I need to give myself an attitude adjustment. I might mention how the skin is peeling off two of my fingers until they begin to bleed and the side of the palm does the same thing. I go on to say I have been to a specialist and three doctors but the affliction has been with me for over a year now. But as I start to even mention it... I remind myself it is so tiny compared to the hardships or health problems of thousands of others.

I was reading about a young fellow who was born with no arms and no legs and in Mexico my path crossed that of a young woman who had no legs and at the ends of her arms she barely had palms, but no figners.

IN Mexico I watched this young woman as she moved about. She could not stroll as she only had stubs where there should have been legs. She would lean forward and place those little palms on the sidewalk and then pull the rest of her body forward. Over and over she did this then paused to watch the world around her. Her look was one of pleasure. She was poised and looked interested in life around her. She shone with a kind of grace. Imagine me seeing her and then complaining about fallen arches. It really does help you to change your perspective.

As for the young fellow without arms and legs, does he lean back and whine about life? I saw pictures of him surrounded by people who were all present to hear him speak. Life has much to offer, and he is able to talk about all the opportunities there are. It is true, that he can not scratch himself if a mosquito bites his cheek. He cannot skate, skim or swim. He cannot even feed himself, yet he is full of laughter and can see many blessings in his life.

I can comb my hair, brush my own teeth. And use the computer. I can walk and climb up the stairs. I can play games with grandchildren, and hold a book while I read to them. How can I complain when I have so much and am blessed to be able to do so much?

You can see that soon, I am counting my blessings and the skin problem is merely an irritant! It is like a mosquito bothering me, compared to the young people who have been born without limbs.. BIG DIFFERENCES!

I recall awhile back, two friends were complaining and whining about their children. They said the children fooled around too much. They weren't studying and they were going to fail in their high school classes.

My perspective on this was: "At least you have a son here to hug. Mine is gone to heaven and I never get to hug him anymore. What is a year? So your child repeats a year of school. He might learn more from this. Perhaps he needed some space to grow. Appreciate you have your child."

Given this perspective both parents realized how blessed they were.

I am remembering at this moment seeing a slide show on the devastation that Aids has caused in Africa. I saw an eight year old holding his baby brother because both parents had died of Aids and there were no adults left in his family to care for the two children. Sometimes we complain about the strictness (and rules) of our parents. Perhaps we should be quiet and say a prayer of gratefulness that we have one or two parents.

I saw a picture of a three year old, shrivelled body, tears on her face, holding what looked like a half piece of bread. This youngster's organs are suffering and she is not even growing properly because she is lucky if she has food three times in a week. Even then, she seldom has any protein and lucky to get any vegetables. Sometimes we complain because we don't have enough variety or we are asked to eat a vegetable that we do not really like. Instead we should sing praises to God for all we have, figure out how to send help to the children in Africa (or wherever it is needed ) and stop complaining when we are so blessed compared to the children of Africa.

Many of us often complain and whine about stuff that is so small in the large scheme of things. yet if we were to list our many blessings we would be embarrassed to complain about anything.

So I recognize that for me I need periodic attitude adjustments, that I might see and appreciate all I have, rather than mention mosquitoes in my life. BE WELL