One of the interesting things about life? Tomorrow's problems always replace those of today. Have you ever really thought about it? Think of a couple things that are worrying you or that cause some stress in your life.
Now think back to last week, two weeks ago, and then a whole month back. Can you remember what was troubling you then? Are they the same things that weigh on your mind today?
Some of our issues may last a long time. How about caring for an ailing loved one? Something like that can go on for years. But the truth is, most of our problems change from week to week.
We either deal with them or we don't, at which point they turn into worse problems. So they're mostly either new conundrums or worse ones.
Some challenges we face run deeper than the week to week puzzles that come up. Sometimes methods from our past stop serving our best interests today. Here's a story from my own childhood that will help illuminate the point.
It's strange that I can still remember what happened to me back then at such a young age. I suppose in a sense it's not that abnormal, because it was my first time experiencing real pain at another person's hand.
That person also had a name and an age, both of which I recollect to this day. His name was Georgi and he had black, curly hair. Georgi was about a year older than I was, putting him around four an a half.
Yep! Georgi was a kid just like me! I used to go two houses over and play with him and some other kids in their garage. I remember enjoying the fact that other kids were around but it didn't last long.
Georgi grabbed my hair with one hand and pulled it hard. The first time it happened an adult was there to stop Georgi before he could really hurt me. I felt the pain for only a second, more than enough time to make me cry.
After that first time, I was wary of Georgi but I soon let my guard down. Why would he do it again? He seemed like he wanted to play. When it happened again, there were no adults around to stop Georgi from pulling.
He had two fist fulls of hair off the top of my head and he pulled like there was no tomorrow. Since that hair pulling, I've suffered injuries ten times worse. They just don't compare to how unprepared I was as a child for that initial sensation of agony.
After that event, I remember running home in tears to my mom. Never, and I meant never, would I ever go back over to play with Georgi again!
Did Georgi deserve my hatred? No. Of course not. Who knows why he felt the need to pull my hair so hard, but children only learn things from others. It was something in his rearing that caused him to do so.
Now that I'm all grown up, I don't hate people for pulling my hair anymore. There have been a few fist fights in my past and I don't have hard feelings towards any of those people.
The thing is, that initial feeling of pain back when I was three led to a resentment. Georgi never got another chance to pull my hair and I never dealt with that emotion. We just moved forward.
Forty five years later and resentment is still an issue I can struggle with from time to time. I have tools in place now to help deal with such emotions when they rear their ugly head. Using those tools and keeping them sharp is much tougher to do.
In a perfect world, right? It seems to me that current culture may be settling for too little. It has never made any sense to me to not set the bar as high as we possibly can.
Sure, there ought to be bars below the high bar so we can take steps to reach higher. Setting it low in the first place to appease the masses is a lose, lose proposition.
Not only does it stink of jealousy, but worse! Setting the bar low smells of covetousness. It's an, 'I'll drag them down to my level if I can't have what they have' mindset.
Like my kids love to say, "You get what you git and don't throw a fit." That's a great place to start! Now they're learning the life tools to support themselves and a deeper understanding that, "You reap what you sow" has never been more true.
Thanks for reading and as always...
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