I'll tell them about the primitive wheeled vehicles we all used to get around. That and the old sports that used to be played like baseball, football, and basketball. They might also be interested in knowing that when we were growing up there were no aliens or superheroes, and the world was split up into hundreds of different countries. Then I will tell them to shut up and go replicate me a beer.
I don't have a humbling story in mind...more of a regular experience. I work at UTMB Galveston in the Children's Hospital. I also live within blocks of work so I just walk to work daily. That means that I go home for lunch. So I walk the same path 4-8 times a day. I also walk by the Shriner Burns Hospital for Children. Every 20th walk or so, I see burned kids walking down or being led down or pushed down in walkers, down the steet. Sometimes it's just burned limbs (which is horrible in itself) but sometimes it's no limbs, or no hands or feet, or just no fingers...or it's burned faces with varying amounts of deformity. Some kids don't have noses, ears or even eyes. It's absolutely horrible to see these kids and put on a happy face for them and/or their parents. Just thinking of my son having to go through these things....I'd probably sell my soul just so one of these kids, that I don't even know and can't even talk to (most of them speak only Spanish) could go back and have a regular life. It's probably the most horrible thing I've ever seen or could imagine. Humbling...damn straight. Ugh, count your blessings.
Pretty sure I bumped into my ex from 5 years ago (who dumped me, btw)this evening. we only glanced at each other before going to the register. (we both got there at the same time.) I payed my bill and walked out, but I glanced back in and could have sworn it was her. And if it was, she is still incredible looking. Sorry, but very humbling to me. You kind of always hope your ex's get fat or something.
Sorry but I thought that images might speak a little bit louder than my own words. When you think you have it bad ... Do you really?
Sadly, it all goes back to Maslow's Hiearchy of needs. No matter how well off you are, all the emotions still apply. But you are correct, we all need something like that to remind us.
We have a family friend who is nurse at Herman who has worked in the burn ward for over 25 years. It takes a real special person who can look past these things and be kind to those in need.
I remember talking about this kind of stuff with my friends. I mean most of the guys I grew up with were all middle class. Parents all emigrated from India. Moms were nurses. Dads did whatever they knew how. But man we are all spoiled. I mean not Richie Rich spoiled but we all had a car in HS. None of us go new ones but we all had some form of transportation. Some of us worked but it was strictly for GF money or buying Polo or Hilfiger stuff our parents would not buy us. All of us got our colleges tuition paid for or at least a big chunk of it. Always had money for food, clothes etc from our folks. I mean none of us had M3's, Gucci loafers, etc. But compared to so many other people we all had it made... and it was because of our folks. When I was young I was secretly embarrassed that my dad used to work at a Mobile station to support us. Now I can't think of anything more admirable. than that.
Agreed. The fact that my dad got up at 4:45 still amazes me. I hate to say it, but until this country learns its priorities, myself included, we are going to witness the destruction of America as a Superpower. If not our generation, than our son's. Again, look at what people are b****ing about these days, comparatively! Hell, less than 100 years ago, you'd be willing to die to get paid a decent wage. Now we have a woman who gets 11.6 million dollars for having to tolerate inappropriate comments on a job that paid her $260,000/yr. It will happen. Maslow's hiearchy of needs. We have grown lazy and fat, just like Rome, and we may be destroyed due to it. I wish I had the answer, but the only one I can honestly fathom is women's rights. As much as we like to treat them as equals, there is a reason there are biblical terms comparing women and snakes, whether you'd like to believe in religion or not. Can any divorced parent argue otherwise? I digress. I love women. But I also see a lot of bad things going on due to their empowerment. Bash away. I'm used to it.
If search were enabled, I'd dig up the story my father told me one evening, completely out of the blue and when we were alone. I thought he was a radar expert during WWII, spent some time on the Saratoga, met Tyrone Power at the time, and spent a tour in the Pacific late in the war. When I was in my late 20's, and he felt mortality coming on, he decided to tell me about an intense combat experience he'd had and never mentioned. Pretty much blew me away. If you think you really know your parents and grandparents, you might be surprised. Talk to them while you have the chance, if you can. When they are gone, all those memories they have, many that formed what you are, go with them.
My family lost our homes to war twice in our lifetime. When my family came to the US, my sister worked to support 9 of us while going to school. She graduated from UT with a 3.95 GPA in computer science.
my dad nearly died of a fever as an infant, as a result can't hear or see out of one side of his face. still managed to get a college education in taiwan, become a banker, immigrate our family to the U.S., worked in a baskin robbins and flea market, and late night motel shifts since we couldn't speak the language. so did my mom. compared to the kids with health problems, I lived in paradise. but I thought it sucked. worked at ice cream store each weekend of my life. worked at a flea market selling complete crap. worked at every possible crappy summer job, including telemarketing (a crime against humanity). I managed to put myself through college and law school. Debating over whether you can afford to spend 4 bucks on crappy college pizza is no way to go through college. Now I pull down 250K+ a year and can take care of my folks. took them to london and paris for retirement present. Bought Rox season tix this year for me and dad. It took a long time, but life is good.
I watched an interview w/ Ken Burns and he basically had the same sentiments. He said he regretted not asking his father about some of the amazing things he went through in his life before he passed. His father was also a WWII veteran, and this plays a part in his latest project.
I have been blessed with a very comfortable -charmed life. My dad's family had a lot of orphans- In the old days - 1920's and 1930's -in his family two cousins were sent to an orphan's home in Breckenridge Texas area, My dad's mom died when he was 2 years old and his dad was 41 approx at the time-single- heavy drinker - but with a good job-good provider. My dad told me he was grateful to be sent to live with a paternal aunt who did not love him rather than live in a orphan's home like his cousins. He got moved around a lot as a small child and enlisted in the service at 17. He lived as a very remote- private person- seemed forever affected by his upbringing. He was very good to my brother and I- but could be very cruel to others. I witnessed him slap an ironworker to the ground-much larger -younger man than him coming at him. Crazy violent
My Mom grew up in a family of wealthy, successful people but she decided to move to Montana and just be a kindergarten teacher because she loved children. She married a terrible ******* of a guy (my father) who verbally humiliated her on a constant basis. He was a genius in the way that he could memorize dictionaries and stuff, but he had no social skills. He made it clear pretty soon he wanted nothing to do with me and the only memory I really have of him is him telling me he was going to take me to the movies and then driving off without me laughing. Eventually they got divorced and he severed all ties around the time I was 4. To this day I have never heard from him (nor do I care to). I never really understood what was going on around me. My mother would cry for days at a time it seemed. I only realize now what she had to go through every day. She told me when I was about 18 that if I wouldn't have been there she would have had no reason for living. She married again, when I was 7, to a stubborn man who I cannot get along with at all. She had 3 more kids (2 of them in her early 40s) She has homeschooled all 3 of them now from kindergarten into high school. My Step-dad is technically a senior citizen and has $0 in savings, I have no idea how they are going to survive when he can no longer work. She faces constant struggles all the time and puts forth tremendous faith in God. I can't help but have all the respect in the world for her.
1) I work with a guy that was about to get married. His wife-to-be was in Iraq, but was supposed to return in a week. He got word that a bomb/explosive went off and she may have been caught in the explosion. No word for a day or so. He finds out that she indeed was killed in the explosion. That in itself is bad enough, but then we find out that 2 other girls died with her. All 3 were friends since childhood. They were friends that long because they all grew up together in a foster home. I heard that and man, that hurt. 2) This is another one I was sent recently that really hit me : http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=108 (that site has a bunch of good videos)
