So my grand idea to start a blog has gotten cut down to size seeing as my procrastination has managed to keep me away all this time. This is not to say that the responsibility is anyone’s but my own.
I need to merge this entry with a life update and a thought process. After creating the title for this blog, I have since moved to Brockport, applied to graduate school, got a new job, got accepted to graduate school, quite the job, and flew to Santa Fe, New Mexico, for a while to stay near a cousin of mine suffering from Lyme disease and the diabolical hyperacusis syndrome. I know, I know, grad school is used as a fall back for disgruntled graduates unable to find his/her dream job right out of college. Well, it must be said that I am one of the brave ones who defied peoples’ advice and forged ahead to get a degree in English as opposed to elementary education, nursing, or engineering. Those last two would have been quite a stretch, but anyway, the compass hadn’t finished fluttering by graduation so, like many of my classmates, I still wasnt quite sure what I wanted to do.
Im extremely curious, social, and have an affinity for writing, contrary to my premature hiatus from this blog. Therefore, I decided a branch of journalism would suite me very well. Which particular vein of journalism is yet to be seen, but thankfully, the program I am doing in the fall is tackling the range including print, on-line, radio, and television. Now, all this having been said, please do not hold me to any journalistic standards as I’ve merely declared that I am going to learn it, not that I already have.
The real aim of this entry was to discuss the need to be thankful. All that I have to be thankful for has been magnified in the face of this cursed illness my cousin is facing, however, I did not stop and think about it until I watched a movie recently. In my experience its certain events, images, or texts that provoke moments of assessing all that one has to be thankful for. In this instance, it was watching the South African film titled, Yesterday.
The beautifully filmed movie follows a woman and her daughter who live in a town where none of the inhabitants would have ever had the opportunity to watch the movie as electricity was nonexistent. The poverty shown was painful, yet the simplicity both endearing and humbling. As I said, I recently packed my bags to come out to New Mexico for about two months. In the beginning we see a woman in search of a teaching position in any town that has one, walking along a dirt road, carrying with her one small suitcase holding presumably all she owns. No wheels or straps. Just a handle. I, on the other hand, paid a fee to check two suitcases, very full, for a two month trip. Keep in mind, that had I packed all that I own, my bank account may have been completely tapped out from the baggage fees.
The film also discussed H.I.V., and seeing the challenge it is to even obtain a simple blood test, made the generally daunting prospect of driving and waiting at a health clinic seem like a breeze compared to walking 3 hours to wait in line for a doctor who may or may not have to time to see you. Wouldn’t it benefit all of us to be more cognizant of all that we have to be grateful for? If I were to sit down and write and entire list, even the most expensive pen would run dry. And hey, I should be really thankful for that!
That was the original end, but I have to add one more thing. Another thought inspired by a film. In the movie 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama, the director asks why it was that in all his travels to both developed and developing nations, he saw many more smiles, and felt more joy from the ”have-nots?” His Holiness gave a concise simple answer that all of us can understand. Basically he said that it’s a matter of satisfaction. Those whose world is relatively simple, once their basic needs are met they are more easily able to enjoy life, while those who are always thinking about earning more, doing more, seeing more, and getting more, always live with a certain amount of stress. I know I always feel like I should be doing more. Maybe the lesson could be that, while many of us lived in a fast-paced capitalist society, try to keep it simple. Increasingly harder to do with monitoring our stocks on-line, checking our email on our iPhones, returning our movies from Netflix, and paying our bills on the computer, try to keep in mind that we hold the power to simplify our own lives. Maybe detach a little from that blaring e-world. Listen to your own thoughts. Say a prayer. Write someone a letter. Plant a flower. And then check your email! Just a thought…
