It always takes me some time to realize this. It feels like giving up, but when you give suggestion after suggestion and offer help time after time, but the other person always has some reason that the suggestions won't work and refuses the help because he/she knows -- KNOWS -- the change won't work ... Eventually even I have to realize that person is a shining example of a particular insanity: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
For some people, venting their displeasure with their way of life is their way of life. They don't want people to point out possibilities. They want confirmation that their failures are unavoidable, that they couldn't do better. Perhaps they do this because then they can believe they're blameless. And I've had them bite at me because I had the temerity to suggest that their lives could be different if they would only choose differently.
I recognize there are many things over which we have no or little control. Accidents, health problems, our childhoods, etc. But just because we're knocked down doesn't mean we have to stay down. Or even stay in the place where we were knocked down. The world is full of possibilities.
One thing I've always done is shoulder my failures. Admittedly, I have taken on burdens that didn't belong to me -- the wisdom to know the difference is something I still struggle with -- but at least I know that my losses are my own work. I don't try to blame my parents or the church or God or my friends or anyone else for my mistakes.
And frankly, I can live with my failures. (Obviously.) I'm surviving, making my way, the government isn't supporting me --although I'm going to work on that soon -- this is my world. For all my problems -- health, financial, spiritual, mental, etc. -- I'm still here. Still working. Still getting out of bed each day.
Perhaps I'm just as insane as the people who choose to wallow in their safe, comfortable mud. But it doesn't feel like I am. It feels like something I can be proud of.
2012 Oakleaf Harbor Christmas Cards now on sale!
Buy Floozy and Other Stories at Amazon.com
Buy Floozy and Other Stories at Barnes&Noble.com
Buy Floozy and Other Stories in paperback at Lulu.com
Buy Floozy and Other Stories in hardcover at Lulu.com
Buy Murder by Dewey Decimal at Amazon.com
Buy Murder by Dewey Decimal at Barnes&Noble.com
Buy Murder by Dewey Decimal at BooksAMillion.com
Buy Murder by Dewey Decimal at Lulu.com
Buy Murder by the Acre at Amazon.com
Buy Murder by the Acre at Barnes&Noble.com
Buy Murder by the Acre at BooksAMillion.com
Buy Murder by the Acre in soft cover at Lulu.com
Buy Murder by the Acre in hardcover at Lulu.com
Buy Floozy, MBTA & MBDD items and more at Oakleaf Harbor
No comments:
Post a Comment