I just woke up from a dream where I was in a huge airliner flying over New York City with tall buildings zooming by directly below me. It was raining really hard and I could hear the rain pounding the wings and fuselage of the aircraft. For some reason I was able to look out a small window directly in front of me and could see the skyscrapers and some trees directly below when all of a sudden the plane flying very low slammed into the tops of some trees and started to bank and crash into the buildings. I was praying intensely and repetitively with my hands clasped tightly, and at that split second before the plane crashed I awoke and jumped up in bed. Whew! That was one vivid dream and reminding me just how blessed I am to be alive at 56 years old. So many of my childhood friends have died over the years and this Irish New Yorker is still kicking here in North Carolina.
I truly have a great deal to be thankful for as Thanksgiving approaches. Visiting my son Adam (Peace Corp Volunteer) a few weeks ago in El Salvador was a wake up call for me. We take so many things for granted here in the states. Sure…we have our own set of problems, but I am not going to address politics in this post. With that said, I do believe politicians are the biggest threat to America and personal freedom at this point in time. I believe many people are waking up to this fact – I just hope its not to late.
Back to counting blessings. I have a great and rewarding job doing what I love to do. How many people can say that? Especially with the unemployment situation in this country. I think when things seem really bad or hopeless in our lives its important to just take a deep breath and assess what we do have and the opportunities that are still available to us as Americans. I mean just little things like running water, electricity, refrigeration and a roof over our heads. There are so many people in 3rd world countries (and here at home) that don’t have these basic things and still walk around with big smiles on their faces and are able to enjoy and appreciate life. Unfortunately, we get so caught up in what we don’t have (myself included) we forget to take stock in what we do have, and the freedoms and opportunities this great country affords us.
I believe life is what we make it and in many ways we determine our personal destiny by the attitudes we have towards life and our expectations for it. I’ll readily admit I’ve been feeling down lately for a variety of reasons. Sitting here in my comfortable home with running water, electricity and indoor plumbing, sipping on a cup of coffee and having a job to go to is definitely a wake up call to shrug off any negative feelings and feel good and blessed about what I do have which is a great deal more than a majority of the people in the world. I am going to have to think twice before getting back in an airplane. I wonder if that dream was a vision or warning of some kind.
Time to shower, get dressed and go to work. Life really is pretty good now that I think about it. Oh What a Lucky Man I Am!
