Perspective

It’s easy to get caught up in daily annoyances. I myself am often preoccupied with all the different reasons why my current situation is not ideal. As human beings we are constantly striving towards something more.  We often are too preoccupied with the dangling carrot of “success” hanging in front of us that we forget to really think about how privileged we are.

Imagine coming to this country with one bag of possessions, after fleeing your own country and staying in a refugee camp for an indeterminate amount of time. You literally have one bag, the clothes on  your back, and the family members you came with (if any). You’re in a foreign land – you don’t speak the language, have no mode of transportation, have no idea how American society operates. But you’re in a country where you won’t be persecuted, won’t be tortured, raped, assaulted, or killed for your beliefs. And that matters more than the material objects you left behind. One of the more rewarding aspects of my job is that I get to experience human resilience in the face of being completely displaced. 

Life can be dissappointing. Life is often disappointing.  No matter how much material wealth you gain, you will always want more. This is the Second Noble Truth in the Buddhist philosophy. No matter how successful we are, we are never satisfied. As humans, we suffer, because we desire and crave. We become so attached not only to our material possessions, but to our ideals of how our life should be. Then we grow frustrated when the world doesn’t conform to these ideals. Think about it…how many times have you went on vacation, only to return and immediately start thinking about your next one? How much stock do you put into owning material possessions, not just because you want them, but because they make you appear successful? Cars, new clothes, houses, jewelry….it’s all just stuff. Without his character, experiences, morals, and values, man is nothing.

So the next time I start bitching about how little money I make, or any other daily annoyance, I’m going to stop and think about the people who have so much less than I do. People who come to this country with literally nothing, because nothing is better than what they left behind. I am going to stop and think about how priviledged I was to have grown up in this country with the opportunities and the means to do what I want, to be independent, to be happy. And I hope you do the same.