Tag: appreciation

March 21, 2024 – Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone)

March 21, 2024 /

I have been incredibly blessed in my life. But I don’t really appreciate it. I have had some perspective to be able to see the mirror but it is so hard to grasp it. For instance, I have never broken a bone. I have never been admitted to the emergency room, I don’t take any maintenance medicines and I don’t need glasses to see.

For some strange reason, I hear songs in my head. I was thinking about titling this something like ‘You cant lose what you never had’ and then this song came into my mind. I started listening and writing.

This started out as a story about my vision. I went to the eye doctor recently because my vision seems to be rapidly getting worse. Now, I go to the eye doctor a lot because both of my parents have glaucoma and I have been ‘glaucoma suspect’ for all of my life. In fact, I gave my son that gift as well.

It is not the effects of glaucoma that I am suffering, it is the effects of age. I am comfortable with the monitoring that is happening and all of my numbers are stable. I was buying spray paint in the fall and I was trying to read the label for the coverage area in a can. I could not read the text. I finally gave up and bought two cans.

The other night, my wife asked me to read the tag on a piece of clothing. I couldn’t make out the letters. It looked like a jumbled mass. My son said, “it’s upside down.” Well no wonder, but I didn’t recognize it.

My vision is generally good. I don’t really need glasses to see. They help a lot in low light and small text up close. I have had glasses for several years that I try to wear when I work. But, I have been very poor about doing it religiously. Last week, I noticed at the end of the day I was worn out, like I just wanted a nap. I thought it was just me sitting in front of the computer all day, but it turns out that when I didn’t have my glasses on I would end the day fatigued.

I am going to have a lot to say about this topic coming up in the near future, just not today. But, having been a spouse to person having life-threatening medical issues, it makes a person realize that we don’t appreciate health when we have it. I don’t carry my glasses to the store to read labels because I never needed to before. It was actually a shock that I couldn’t read the writing. I didn’t know what to do.

It is hard for me to write with this perspective, because I don’t really have it. But, lots of people have glasses. I feel like, if your vision has been bad for all of your life, you don’t give it a second thought that vision correction is necessary to function. When you have never needed it, it is kind of humbling to realize that you are at that point.

End Your Programming Routine: Health is one of those few areas that most of us have a similar journey. Unless you are taken out in an accident or something pre-maturely, we are all going to have issues that we have never had before. I would like to find a way to appreciate those things without having to lose them. I just don’t know if it is in our nature. Maybe the way we appreciate it is that we don’t have to worry about it?

September 1, 2020 – The results of ‘Participation Trophy’ culture

September 1, 2020 /

I was actually in the midst of writing about another topic this morning. I attempted to leave and go to a local bakery to get some bread to have with our bruschetta that we are having for dinner tonight. I am sure that I was already in a bad mood because I had to stop writing, wait for the train to pass, then find out the bread is not ready until later. Then, I drive past this sign and I got triggered.

I must be old fashioned, because I my youth you had to do something extraordinary in order to get labelled a hero. We are talking not just life saving, but life risking as well. Additionally, it was something that not everyone would or could do. I’m sorry but I don’t think working at the post office counts. I know that they are having some issues and I appreciate the relative consistency of delivery, but heros?

The word hero is cheaply thrown around a lot; teachers, doctors, nurses, emergency service, soldier, on and on. Maybe I should just move on and accept that society has changed the definition and cheapened the word. But I cant, a hero was something that was more than appreciation, it was something that you aspired to be and circumstantially the label was applied. A hero reluctantly (or never) accepted the title, a majority people felt that action was substantially above the call of duty or mission.

When I was a kid, there was a ‘war hero’ in your town or my dad could take your dad (not saying those are right, just saying how the use has changed). This culture has turned the notion of hero into someone that gets paid to pursue their career. I don’t know about you, but I can remember the time that all fifty plus Christmas cards were returned because they were irregularly shaped and required extra postage despite the fact that I paid for the postage in the lobby.

I get that things change and idealism fades, but the people that choose certain careers because they had a passion for helping people, or they thought it had good pay and reasonable benefits. Circumstances change and when times get tough or things are not as they seem we now think an unwarranted label is an appropriate motivator.

State worship is high and the brainwashing is nearly complete when we bestow our highest values to imperialism, advancing propaganda and enforcing total law and order. We claim to embrace and appreciate freedom of speech and ideals and we actually do the opposite. We use our praise to enforce status quo and marginalize differences that are too outside our comfort zones.

I know that I am coming out firing both barrels today, so I want to change my tone to finish. I was talking with my mom not too long ago and she was telling me about the time that she baked the garbage man some cookies because he picked up some extra stuff in the back of the house rather than just emptying the cans. Years later, he still remembered the gesture. I can also remember leaving treats in the mailbox too every now and again. Those seem like appropriate tokens of respect and appreciation.

It’s not like marriage, so stopping a bit before love, honor and cherish is appropriate. Love your fellow man, be courteous and respectful, show appreciation, say ‘Thank You’, treat others as you would want to be treated are all actions that are in line with respecting other people. I am proposing to guard the title and reserve the act of bestowing hero to situations warranted.