This morning on my way to work, while stopped at a red light, I noticed a young woman standing on a snow-covered street corner shaking from the frigid temperatures.
In her hand she held a sign made out of corrugated cardboard and a thick black marker. It read simply, “Spent rest of money on rent. My 2 daughters need food.”
It’s easy for onlookers to assume these individuals are drug users, degenerates or simply con artists playing on the sympathy of others during the holiday season. But I sometimes wonder if that kind of reasoning is concocted so we don’t feel a moral obligation to give of the abundances we find ourselves fortunate to possess.
I couldn’t imagine standing on a street corner having to beg for food or money in order to survive. I go home every night to a warm home and a fully stocked refrigerator. I’ve got a few bucks in the bank that allow me to live quite comfortably without sacrifices. Yet regardless of those blessings, I’m not sure I’m as grateful as I should be.
It’s easy to take for granted what you have when its there. You assume it will always be and that you’ll never allow yourself to fall to the point of poverty. What we all fail to realize is everyone thinks that. No one is born wishing to be poor – to become a beggar on a street corner
And yet we make fun of those who have less than we do. We judge those who make do with less when we have so much. I’m not sure what that says about a person, but it’s far from being humble and grateful.
Amit Ray once remarked that, “It does not matter how long you are spending on the earth, how much money you have gathered or how much attention you have received. It is the amount of positive vibration you have radiated in life that matters.”
What vibrations are YOU giving off? An easy question to ask, but often a difficult one to answer.
Happy New Year!
