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“Enjoy your own life without comparing it with that of another.” Marquis de Condorcet
IT SEEMS TO BE HUMAN NATURE to look at those people around us who have more than we do, those who have: a bigger salary, a nicer office, a better job, a bigger and faster car, a more expensive house, and even a better looking and sexier spouse.
By the same token when it is our ‘faults’ that are in question, we turn the tables and say (or at least think) things like: Well, at least I am not as rude; not as cheap; not as much a gossip; not as lazy; not as selfish; not as stuck up; and not as self centered as he or she is.
When we play this comparison game we tend to manipulate the rules so that we always come out looking okay. Perhaps this is how we protect our ego and self esteem, for we are, after all, fairly fragile creatures regardless of the ‘thick skin’ persona we sometimes portray.
But is this what Thanksgiving is supposed to be about? I don’t think so. There will always be people who have more than we do regardless of whether it is money, possessions, intelligence or good looks ... and there will always be people who have less. So instead of playing the ‘poor me, they have so much more than me’ game, we all should go out of our way this year and make a conscious, determined effort to improve someone else’s lot in life?
“ People never forget that helping hand especially when times are tough.” Catherine Pulsifer
To be able to think this way and, indeed, follow through on it with tangible acts of kindness and generosity — now that is something to be thankful for! That is living WELL.
Happy Thanksgiving.
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