There it is. Right there in the title. This is not a "poor me" post. I have few resources. That's not a secret. And not really a factor in whether or not I'm a good writer, worker, mother, or person. And I'm going to say right up front that I use the word "deserve," very sparingly in life. I truly believe that none of us has gotten where we are in life by hard work alone. Every act we perform, every success, is, in some regard, dependent on the shoulders of those whom we stand upon to be able to hold our heads above the crowd. And sometimes we are just plain lucky.
And sure, you can make your own luck and your own happiness. In fact, I highly encourage it. You'll be a lot luckier and happier if you do. ;) But we can never lose sight of the fact that we all connect to one another in some way, and if one of us falls, the rest of us feel it. Really think about this. REALLY think about it.
Sometimes, it's just a matter of: if your mom hadn't given you that alarm clock in seventh grade... The one that had the bitchin' cool radio alarm, that was so cool, you could never bring yourself to replace it, and it ultimately failed you now, 22 years later. And you get up late for work and run for the bus and miss it, so you grab a cab only to pass the bus broken down by the side of the road six miles up ahead.
Sheer luck? Maybe. But what is luck anyway?
And happiness?
Now that's a can of worms. You hear all sorts of platitudes about that one. I wont be a bore or an Agony Aunt by repeating them. ;)
But here's the thing. If you don't have enough to eat, or access to decent medical care, or basic human rights, or a job to exercise your hard work ethic, it's EXTREMELY hard to make much of anything.
I am an American. Yesterday, my president took his second Oath of Office. The general media consensus was that he didn't say anything memorable to take away. You know something along the lines of "we have nothing to fear but fear itself..."
But as I happily huddled under my little roof that my boyLovey and I have poured every resource in to keeping over the heads of the four fine young Americans who huddled with me on the sofa, while their dad happily worked in subzero weather for two thirds the pay he used to earn, each them denied a flu shot earlier last week because "the supplier had not sent enough for Medicaid patients" (and they'd all been too ill the whole previous month to have the shots. Which didn't even arrive, for Medicaid patients, until mid December. And they are happy to have recovered well and without fatal complication.), I heard the president say these words:
"We do not believe that in this country, freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few."
I know I'm lucky. I am happy. But sometimes, you need a few words from the powers that be to hang on to.
I'm going to include the full paragraph of text this statement was taken from because I think it's very powerful and worth repeating. Especially for my fellow Americans who may not be fully feeling the hope and change in their lives just yet. You can also click here to read the entire address.
And here's a little music for you to listen to while you read it.
"We, the people, still believe that every citizen deserves a basic measure of security and dignity. We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit. But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future. For we remember the lessons of our past, when twilight years were spent in poverty, and parents of a child with a disability had nowhere to turn. We do not believe that in this country, freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few. We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us, at any time, may face a job loss, or a sudden illness, or a home swept away in a terrible storm. The commitments we make to each other - through Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security - these things do not sap our initiative; they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great." ~President Barack Obama, January 21, 2013
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