This morning I woke up and, with a few minutes of peace and quiet, I thought about what I had to accomplish today. And then I thought otherwise.
I thought about everything I won’t do today.
I won’t sift through rubble and debris to find my kitchen. Nor will I wonder if today’s radiation levels will be more than my family can safely endure.
I will not walk barefoot miles down a dirt road to a filthy river and scoop water for my children to drink.
Nor will I have to take three buses to get to my job, only to discover I’ve been laid off. I won’t have to tell my son that he can’t go back to college after spring break because there’s no money for tuition and he has to get a job to help support his family.
When my children get hungry for lunch, I won’t have to tell them there’s nothing to eat. And when dinner comes, I won’t have to trade my body in hopes of making enough money to buy them supper.
When I kiss them goodnight, I won’t tuck nets around their bodies to ward off malaria-carrying mosquitoes and wonder if they’ll wake up too weak to stand because we’ve gone another day without food.
I won’t worry about my boys when they go to visit friends, that they might get shot or tortured or kidnapped. When we go to church on Sunday, I won’t expect guerrillas to storm the building and kill us for worshiping our God.
People who know me might label me: white, upper-middle class, middle-aged, mother, wife, writer, homeowner, tax-payer, Christian, woman.
But to the rest of the world I am privileged, wealthy.
What will you not do today?
7 comments:
You are so right. It's easy to forget how blessed we are compared to 90% of the world. Great post, Pamela.
Thank you for another wonderful blog.We have been truly blessed. I did the same thing this morning, as far as having a plan of what I thought I needed it accomplish, but after the first three phone calls I received, nothing I had planned seemed that important. I try never let anything stand in the way of being available for a friend. Eventually, I did get some of my plans met, but my day was much more satisfying and productive by just being available. We are not promised a day or even another breath, so we need to be ready to meet our Savior and hear Him say,"Well done, My good and faithful servant." My heart goes out to the people in Japan. I can't even fathom the grief and devastation they are experiencing.
Thanks for this great perspective.
Thanks, Susan and Mom. It's easy to get comfortable and take for granted all we have. I never want to be a whiner.
You're welcome, Elizabeth. Glad you agree.
I'm not sure how I stumbled upon this post, but it's *exactly* what I needed to read right now. Wow. My list of what I'm NOT going to do today is getting longer by the second.
Just discovered your blog and can't wait to read more. Thanks for this great post.
Thanks, Jennifer. I've been remiss in posting recently but this one still feels applicable today. Glad it spoke to you.
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