Upon reading this chapter, along with everyone else's blogs, I pretty much learned the same lesson from the Stanford student, where he wants his grandchildren's eyes opened to the real problems in the world rather than just the problems in their own homes. Going off that, I think people today are too worried about their own lives than the lives of others. I'm not condemming it, cause God knows that I have made my life a priority over others over the last few years, simply because of my obsession with money. It's sad, I agree, but that's how I was raised. My parents always taught me, "if you're not making enough money to support yourself and your family, then you basically shouldn't be doing anything at all." Now don't attack me, I don't think like that anymore, although I do on occasion I'll admit. When I first started high school, at a Catholic shool of course, every student in every class had to meet a certain amount of community service hours every year, and the amount of hours varied by class. For instance, the freshman had to fulfill 10 hours, sophomores 20 hours, and so on. But, there was a catch, they had to be done at certain places. Freshman year at school, sophomore year at a seperate place with a friend, junior year by yourself where ever you want, and senior year with a church. I loved doing this every year, even though there were sometimes when I wanted to quit and just fudge my hours and lie (because everyone else was doing it and getting away with it). But I didn't, my sophomore year I got involved with a place called 1st Way Crisis Pregnancy Center, and that place helped me not only exceed the amount of hours I needed, but it helped me lose my ridiculous obsession with always having money. This place lived off of donations from others, they never kept money for themselves. When they did, they would give it to other non-profit organizations like Maggie's Place or Martha's Vineyard, or other places that helped poor, needy single mothers suppor their babies. Whenever I was given the privelege to give mothers whatever they needed, such as baby clothes, maternity clothes, baby formula, stuffed animals, etc., the look on their faces changed my life. Many mothers broke down in tears and started thanking me profusely. From that day on, I just started living with whatever I have, or lack of what I have. Right now, I'm dirt broke, living from paycheck to paycheck (which never exceeds more than $300 every 2 weeks), and I'm as happy as a beach bum that found the perfect wave (I know, cheesy analogy...).
I think if more people stopped worrying about how much money comes in their paycheck, and stops trying to be like celebrities these days, living the high life with 30 cars, there could be a change. But do I think this will ever happen? No. As of now, especially with the state of the economy, I do not see people thinking like this anytime soon.
I pray everyday that my grandchildren can see a world that is not obsessed with money, what music Miley Cyrus has out now, and Britney Spears' love life. But that'll probably never happen. My friends, we live in a greedy, greedy world. In some cases, this is okay, we have to be greedy to get what we want, but to an extent. For example, I work at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory at Desert Ridge, and we just hired this new girl. Some one apparently told her she can take whatever she wants. So she got greedy, and took about $200 worth of chocolate home to her sick mother. She was fired the next day. That's what I mean by to an extent, if we push the limit too far...bad things will happen. I do not want my grandchildren growing up in a world where the headline news is how some celebrity spend 2 million dollars on a new car. I want them to know that there is more in this world than just gossip, scandal, money, and so on. I want them to help with the world, in anyway they want, great or small.
Every small act can affect the lives of others somehow, even if it's only your next-door neighbor.
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