Appreciation

Appreciating what you have has a lot to do with what you had, or did not have, when you were growing up.

For instance for my parents that grew up in the early 1900's, they did not have in-door plumbing. They had an outhouse in the back of their house to go to the bathroom.

We cannot have the same appreciation for the bathroom in our houses as they do today. We just take it for granted.

The automobile was just starting to be mass produced but even then, not every one could afford one.

People actually walked to places.

People huddled around the radio and television would not hit the scene until the 50's.

I was born in 1957 and growing up, we had one black and white TV that received three channels, and even at that we may have a lot of "snow" on the screen. Rich to us was the guy on the block that had a rotary antenna on his roof so he was able to get another channel or two.

We did not complain because we were just excited to have TV and we had no idea what we were missing because we never had it.
How can a teenager of today appreciate their 62" flat screen in high def with a thousand channels on it with a touch of their remote the same we that grew up with three channels that you had to actually get up and switch the channel?

Our children have so much more , just as we had so much more then our parents and grandparents.

It is so easy to take everything we have for granted. We get stuck in this whirlwind called life and seem to chase the day. We need to remember what we have and how rich our lives are.

My son is just returning from a month journey from Hyderabad, Bangalore, New Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Seoul. Shanghai and Beijing.  He is returning to the United States with a new appreciation.
He has now seen first hand how most of the world lives and what they have and what they will never have in their life time.

In one country, children need a uniform in order to attend school, uniforms cost $8.00 and most can not afford that so they can attend school. Thus just adding to their strive and turmoil never having the opportunity that we all take so much for granted.

As we go about our day, as kiss our children good bye for the day, as we approach our work day and personal life may we always take the time to truly realize what we have....and have appreciation.