Last week I had the opportunity to take a class called Adventure Recreation Programming, which met every day from 9 to 5. I will concede to the fact that is the closest I will ever come to knowing what it's like to have a real job.The course couldn't have come at a better time in my life. I have been struggling with some issues and it really helped me put things into perspective.
I had a conversation with the owner of the camp where my classmates and I were partaking in a ropes course. He noticed the cross tattoo on my ankle and asked me what it represented. I explained to him that I was particularly close with my grandmother, who died when I was a sophomore in high school. She was really sick near the end of her life, but always found the strength to keep fighting. No matter how much she was hurting, she always tried to smile.
The cross reminds me that we all have our crosses in life to bear.
Right now, my uncle is in the hospital dying of cancer. The pain that he is enduring, the pain that my grandmother felt is beyond my realm of comprehension. So, the next time that I find myself complaining about the fact that my job doesn't pay enough or that it took an extra long time to get home from work because traffic was horrendous, I will think of them, I will think of the millions of other people who are so much worse off than myself and realize that my life is pretty damn good.
