I was out running a couple of errands today, and happened to overhear a conversation while waiting in a checkout line. The person behind me was complaining to her friend that with three days to go until Christmas, “everything’s just terrible.” Her friend asked what was wrong. The woman’s answer was long and drawn out, but I heard bits of the answer that involved keywords like “Wii”, “XBox”, “bicycles”, and “sold out.”
Admittedly, I didn’t hear every word. But this didn’t sound like worry over a life-threatening situation. To characterize this as “just terrible” seemed like a severe overreaction. Not to mention this woman was essentially making herself feel bad. I felt like turning to her and saying something like “You should be thankful that you can easily consider buying things like Wiis, XBoxes, and bicycles.”
Of course I didn’t. But next time you, or anyone else you know has thoughts about how bad things are, try to take a moment and think about what you can be thankful for. According to Oprah Winfrey, “Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”
Christmas is getting close!
What are your thoughts?