The First Thought To Virtue Is Assigned To Patience
The first thought of virtue is assigned to patience, but I think that a new affliction is upon us. Gratefulness is the only ticket out of it.
If you think of everything you have complained about in the last 12 mths, I guarantee you could find a flip side. It’s so easy to find a way to justify complaints. How easy is it to say that I deserve that, or that I am worth it, I can afford it, so why shouldn’t I have it? I should have it, they should GIVE it to ME…
I had a little think this arvo about all the things I was shitty about and it came to me, one item after the next. The lunacy of my complaints started to become crystal clear.
I hate mowing the lawn, but I have a lawn to mow, a backyard that I own, money to buy plants of my own choosing to plant in it, and a weekend to tend to it. I know that if I plant something and it doesn’t rain for 6 months I have the facility to be able to water it with very clean water I won’t get sick from touching what comes out of a tap with pressure from a hose that I could afford to buy. It comes squirting right out within meters from where I need it and not to water my family from but to simply make my grass and plants green with. I could put my mouth to the nozzle of the hose and drink from it and not get sick. It would taste like shit but not REAL shit, just like hose….
My mind then went to my family and the parts of it that I lament and the parts that I can be grateful for.
I have a daughter who I love dearly. We have an unspoken and unbreakable connection that has stood the test of both time and separation. An incredible, intelligent, and street-smart young woman who has an amazing personality and a groundedness that is enviable. She gets things beyond her years. She can see past the things that are presented to her each day from those both near and far that try to test her resolve, but she is strong and resilient, able to separate the shit from the water without a filter and drink the good on the other side. Now I can be eternally heartbroken for the years we have spent apart or I can be grateful for an ex-partner who I created her with and who cares for her well-being. Further, still I can be grateful that my daughter was born sound of mind and with all her physical abilities intact. I am also grateful that she is living in a place where I can be relatively comfortable and that she will not suffer physical or emotional harm, even while not in my immediate protection range.
I could complain that there are so many things to take the kids to like sports and school, play dates and parties. They have friends, they have a school they can go to without the threat of violence from outsiders. They have a school full stop. We can afford extracurricular activities like sports and excursions and can offer the stability to go to the same thing for a length of time to the point where they start to know other people and get good at what they’re doing. Hell, we could even drop them off and know that we aren’t going to be separated by catastrophe, riot, or war.
“I have to wash the dishes”. I have dishes to wash. We have amazing food to eat, I have a kitchen to store the clean ones in, I have running clean water with which to clean them with and it is available from a tap right over the place I need it. I also have a dishwasher to use should that be the preferred option as well as power and water to run it.
“I have to feed and walk the dog and pick up its poo!” I have a beautiful living animal that lives with us, whose entire life is devoted to our company and protection. We can afford to feed an extra mouth for no other reason than for our own enjoyment and fulfillment. AND I have a yard with which it can roam and to pick its poo up.
“I don’t have any new music to listen to”. I have a device with which I pleasure my ears. I can listen to the music I choose. Music that isn’t controlled by a dictatorship and is filled with propaganda. So many options and devices with which to listen to music, reliable power that runs the music machines, and access to data over the airwaves that pipes whatever I want to hear straight to me. Like straight to me. Amazing.
The commute. You aren’t walking, you’re driving! In a comfortable car, you can afford to run with several options to assist you in your comfort levels. You have a job to drive to. You don’t fear land mines, roadblocks, or unwarranted arrests. Your start and arrival times are pretty predictable and the employer you are working for is 99% a sure thing for paying you for the day you put in. Your work is not overly impacted by weather, drought, or transport difficulties. You don’t have to pay bribes for your personal safety and if you break down there will be a ute with a flashing light on it showing up to protect you while you wait on the side of the road for a truck in good order to come along and tow your car to safety free of charge.
“The lunchroom Aircon is too cold”. You have a lunchroom. You have food that you can eat while you are using it. Your employer is willing to spend money to attempt to keep the area that is not designed for production in a comfortable condition to the point that when it’s 36 deg C outside, you are too cold inside.
“There are so many bins to take out from this house”. You have a bin truck that comes to your front door to remove your garbage every week. You don’t have to dig a hole to bury it, you don’t have to live surrounded by it and you have so much surplus that you have something to throw away.
“There’s no room in the fridge”. Think back only a few decades and they had the iceman come round to put a block of ice in the top of a chest that was always wet and not cold enough to keep milk fresh from one day to the next. We now have so much crap in a 450L fridge that there’s no room for all the new crap you just bought. So much food that after it’s left in there for too long, you throw it away.
“I work long hours”. Our hours are not long compared to those who live on the fringe. In the hours we are home we are in a peaceful environment. We have a bed to sleep soundly in without fear of daily harm or invasion. We can be relatively certain that our loved ones will return to us safely.
Peace Out my friends and take time to be grateful xxx.