I am only happy when it rains.... ;)

I sit here idle. I called my mother this morning for her day of blessed honor. I was not appreciated for my efforts, but rather chastised for not calling her earlier to discuss my plans to take her out to eat today. Apparently, raw selfishness & a side of beleaguered obligation are on the menu for me today. Perhaps, had I felt slightly more incensed, I would have said something. I decided to let the moment go, knowing that sometimes those who are blissfully ignorant of their own rudeness will eventually reap what they sow.

Then I gave thought to some recent conversations about various people inside and outside of my life. The continually chatter about their "good days" or "bad days" and their inability to cope with the reality of life itself.

I call all of that mindless bantering --- the luxury of not having to truly live.

Life is not meant to be easy, nor stress free nor pleasant at all times. We are all products of the choices we have all made at various junctures in our respective lives. Where did we lose sight of our dreams? Where did we choose not to challenge ourselves, where did fear or anger get the better of our walk? Who said that we deserve to be cheerful & to smile each day? Who said there wouldn't be rain?

Still in the midst of reality of life itself, people complain. People result to medication to get them through the day, people bitch about their shortcomings, their lack of free time, their lack of purpose, their lack of a life to be honest. Yet those same souls attract, even construct the loneliness, the fear & the burdens in their own life. They are convicted with a sentence that they themselves have judged to be congruent with their own weight in self-pity.

It is akin to a martyr complaining about how bad it is to be a martyr.
You chose the role, now play the part.

For those of us who have to work each day to provide, who have bigger & more pressing responsibilities between the time we gaze into our bathroom mirrors & pickup the kids for soccer practice, we don't have the luxury of complaining.
We have people counting on us, we have corporations employing us, we have customers depending on us. The machine doesn't stop grinding away simply because we didn't have Bavarian cream for our coffee. The fields don't stop growing because we "don't feel just right today" --- Sad, sick or lonely, you have to get the work done.

We have not only exposed our soft underbellies but our soft convictions, our soft spirits & our weak resolve.

The luxury of being soft, of being restless, overly medicated & comfortable. Too easy it has become to complain instead of construct, to bitch instead of build, to wallow instead of work, to rest without effort. The luxury of wasting time, the luxury of sitting idle watching the days go by, the luxury of popping pills to remove us from the reality of our current situations.

This is not to say that I don't get discouraged, dismayed & depressed at times dealing with the realities of life. I do, and during these moments it is hard to press on and shoulder the responsibilities, the pain and despair that comes with being a father without his children & an overburdened professional. It is hard to smile sometimes, but with cheerfulness or not, I go to work, I press onward.

Sometimes walking through the rain is normal --- but sitting in puddles waiting for it to end, complaining about your wet socks gets your nowhere.

I would hate to ponder that fact that these same soft Americans are descendants of our pioneers, our founding fathers, our crusaders that built, battled for & blazed this country with their own bare hands. They truly had some bad days, they truly knew the sense of work, the responsibility & pride of a purposeful life. All without the bitching, the bantering & need for anti-depressants.

Additionally, they didn't wait for the next bestselling book to build them up, to help them remember that life is hard, nor to give them a purpose in their life. They didn't need to be reminded that life is what you make it, that anything worth anything takes considerable effort, hard work & dedication.

Reminders are good, like highway signs keeping us pointed in right direction towards our destination. However, you actually need to be on the road to see them! So, get out there, set a goal, challenge yourself to something new & see how truly wonderful life can be... rain and all. :)

I am only happy when it rains...