The woman taking our lunch orders at the pool was so grateful just because the kids and I said thank you. She then went on to say how surprised I would be at how many people act as if she is not there (that is until an order is wrong, or service isn't as prompt as desired). To some extent, I wonder what my life would be like if I had the type of money that the people around me had. Making good grades probably wouldn't be such a big deal to me because I wouldn't need the scholarships I have now for academics so that I can make it through school. Having multiples jobs would be obselete because I wouldn't need to help pull my weight in my household nor would I need money to make a monthly car payment. When I think about how hard I have to work, I begin to envy these people's wealth. What I wouldn't give just to go to college, hassle free, only worrying about school. How nice it would be to have mom and dad pay for me to live in an apartment and pay for all my food.
But, then I think about the life I have. It is perfect for me and has made me the person I am today. The person with good, down to earth friends. The person that thinks about the future and wants to better myself because I don't want to work multiple jobs all my life. The person who loves her family and is best friends with my mom, without a doubt in my mind that they would do anything for me. I am the person I am because of the upbringing I was given. I feel that the kids that surrounded me today are also a result of their upbringing. Like the kids I am watching today, parents are responsible for teaching their kids to be polite, respect authority, and grateful of all they have been blessed with. I am around plenty of people every day that could be snobs by the amount of money they possess, but they aren't because they know that money does not make you better than anyone else.
So, when I see people that are unaware of how grateful they should be because of their comfort due to wealth, I get angry. When I was born, my dad had a job that would allow me to live the life of the people I saw today. But, he lost that job and then spent the next several years bouncing from company to company (not because he is not talented but because he has always been in the maintenance area of companies, which is the first to get cut when profits dwindle). Do I wish things would have turned out differently for me? Actually, no. It would be nice to buy anything I wanted when I walked in a store, but when I reflect on the person I am today because of the way my life is, I could not be more grateful.
I am on this rant today, not to be annoying, but to remind parents to raise their children to live with dignity, and to respect authority so that others will want to be around them and not be viewed as I viewed the kids today.
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