Like many of you, Saturday is a usually a day for getting the stuff done that fell by the wayside during the week. At our house, that usually means grocery shopping, yard mowing, house cleaning, and other chores. Our daughter has responsibilities too, including keeping her room and bathroom clean. This is how she works off the expense of her cell phone. Last weekend, her mom wanted her to clean out the drawers in her dresser. They were over-stuffed to the point of being unable to close. She’s a 13 year old girl, so this happens occasionally. I reminded her at some point during the day that she needed to get it done and I got THE LOOK. If you have a teenage daughter, you know exactly what I’m talking about. THE LOOK comes when you say something that is either so annoying or stupid the child doesn’t know how you remember to breathe. This was followed by “I was going to do that next weekend”. I told her today would be much better for her continued enjoyment of life. She made it plain that she wasn’t crazy about that plan, but set about her task.
As I was thinking about this minor dust-up, it occurred to me the basic problem was the child has too many clothes and she doesn’t understand how fortunate she is to be in that situation. I’m not the smartest dad, but it seemed to me that this was what you call a teaching moment. Let me just say that she is a great kid. We have no serious behavioral issues with her, just occasional bouts of teen ‘tude. Anyway, we talked about it later that day and I explained to her there are a lot of kids who would be thrilled to have half of her wardrobe, and she should keep that in mind while taking care of her stuff. She had pretty well gotten over herself by then, and she nodded in agreement. By then, she and her mom had straightened things up, producing several bags of clothes to be donated to our local thrift store. I gave her a hug and all was well.
I think there is a larger lesson here, a lesson we all need to be reminded of from time to time. I think we forget to be grateful. No, this isn’t some Pollyanna-unicorns and rainbows-type statement. I know things are tough and the world is insane. Believe me, I understand the struggle. It gets harder every month to make ends meet. The cost of food, fuel, insurance, and most everything else goes up while our salaries don’t follow suit. Something is ALWAYS sucking up our time and money, forcing us to make hard decisions. We are bombarded constantly by the 24/7 news cycle with reasons why we should hate the government, hate our neighbor, fear the boogieman, and just generally be unhappy. This constant negative reinforcement is very effective and can work on you in ways you don’t even realize. If you don’t try to counter it, it will just wear you down.
So how do we counter all of the doom and gloom? It isn’t easy and the solution is different for everyone as we all have our own sources of trouble. One thing we can all do is try to look at the positive aspect of our troubles. Sometimes it is very difficult, almost impossible, to find the positive. Personally, I’m a realist who leans toward the cynical, so I have to force myself to look for the so-called bright side. But having a positive outlook can make a lot of our day to day aggravations look a lot smaller, and make the larger issues more manageable. The example I used with my daughter was mowing the lawn. I don’t like mowing the lawn, but I have to do it just about every week through the spring, summer, and fall. No, I don’t like to do it, but I’m grateful I have great tools which make the job easier, and more than that, I’m grateful I have a lawn of my own to mow!
There are many more examples I could use. For example, I am an archaeologist. We are underpaid relative to other sciences. I’m partially responsible for recording and protecting our common past, which I think is a vital task. Engineers with my education and experience make twice what I do. Since the crash in 2008, our wages have been stagnant as companies just try to survive. I am good at what I do and I work hard at it, so this is frustrating. But, I’m grateful. I have a job I enjoy and which challenges me every day. I have managed to stay employed when many of my peers have lost their jobs and had to seek employment outside of archaeology. I’m still able to go into the field and do a good day’s work looking for lost treasure (actually other people’s trash, but treasure sounds better). I realize how lucky I am to be doing what I do, so I’m grateful.
This blog was founded as a means of expressing the contributor’s frustration with politics and the lack of reason and logic that plague us in so many political discussions today. We are truly Frustrated Americans. For me at least, this frustration is tempered by the knowledge that we live in the United States of America. I am grateful to be a citizen of a nation where I am allowed to vent my frustration openly and without fear of reprisal. I can sit here and write whatever I want, be it serious or silly, and you can read it or not, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. I am grateful to the thousands of Americans who have fought and died to preserve that freedom. I am grateful for the opportunities which are available to all of us if we’ll just work for them. We have major problems, make no mistake. There are serious issues at play which can alter the course of our nation. I’m grateful, however, for the fact that we all have a least some say in the outcome.
Friends, I hope you’ll join me in trying to adopt an attitude of gratitude. There are days when it’s hard, when I get tired of the struggle. It always seems I’m reminded of reasons to be grateful about the time things are darkest. An amazing wife and daughter remind me daily. I think we’ll all be better for it if we try to take a little time and consider the things for which we’re grateful.
I hope you enjoyed this article! Please leave me a comment to let me know what you think and share the link with your friends. Also, I’d like to attribute the title of this article to Knoxville radio personality, Hallerin Hilton Hill. Mr. Hill hosts one of the best talk shows you’ll hear, the very best in this market. He admonishes his audience every day to adopt an attitude of gratitude. I hope you’ll tune in to his show.
This is awesome!!! Definitely one of your best!! And finding the positives, especially with you,my wonderful husband, and our Lydia has helped me survive a tough school year. And those students that seem to do something sweet and kind just when you need reminding about doing what you do.