A Thanksgiving “Reality” Check – AKA Real Talk By Mark Castillo The bad news: For one, I spent 20 minutes last night driving in circles looking for a parking spot. My building lends out the parking garage to the Free Masons every once and a while (the apartment building and their temple are connected physically) and my car was towed this morning as a result of parking in an unfamiliar place and not paying close attention to the details on the street signs. Secondly, Sheryl is more sick than she’s been in a long time. I had to call in to work in order to take her to the doctor. Last, Wolfe’s daycare, Sheryl found out by working there, is not the best place for her or him, to put it lightly. We had to put an end to both of them going there. The good news: I have a car, and a relatively nice one. And though I thought my car was impounded it turned out to be merely “short-towed”, as they refer to it in Denver. It was moved and parked a few blocks away in a “legal parking spot”, as they refer it in Denver. My building, a relatively nice one, has a parking garage. Ever try to find a parking spot near downtown after 5pm? If not, that’s a good thing. What Sheryl thought was pneumonia is just the combination of a bad cold and asthma. And anybody that knows anything about the world, knows that it’s an amazing thing to be able to go to a doctor and get medical care. I have a job, and relatively nice one. It allows for sick time so that I can take Sheryl to the doctor and watch Wolfe while she stays in bed. It pays enough for us to have quite a bit of flexibility while Sheryl and Wolfe figure out what the next step will be - as far as daycare and a job. Not to mention the fact that I work with great people and enjoy going there. But why stop there. Another plus is that, evidently, I’m an optimist. Partly due to my chosen perspective but largely due to the fact that I’m not afflicted with depression and have the physiological ability to have an optimistic perspective. For that I am grateful. Events that could have made me angry and sad have instead stimulated self reflection and happiness. Am I blessed? Lucky? No. No divine intervention here. What has lead to the status of my current existence? In no small part, it’s the choices I’ve made, the support of my friends, family, and my American society - as cheesy as that sounds. But mostly it’s due to pure chance. I just happened to be born on section of this floating rock in space where society is mostly at peace (for reasons good or bad) and people don’t have to drink water with poop in it. Which, as I sometimes remind others, happens in more places than we’d like to think about. I just happened to not be faced with events of insurmountable defeat in my life. Things simply ended up in my favor. There is no logic in believing in divinity that causes my situation to be a good one and the situation of some innocent child on the other side of the planet to be a metaphorical hell. So, as we get together with friends and family this Thanksgiving, if chance permits, we should not only appreciate our situations but be grateful for our ability to appreciate our situations. We should realize that we’re not entitled through status or religion to have what we have. And all of us have the ability improve the situation of another human because everyone possesses the power to change the experience that others have with pure chance.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 20:24:42 +0000
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