I got mine… or counting your blessings

February 24th, 2023

I got mine… so everybody else can go to hell. Or stay in the hellhole they are now, out of sight and out of mind. And no uppity betterment hopes and dreams as well for anybody.

I don't do it enough — seeing and understanding and appreciating how lucky I am and how I was blessed (not in a religious way) to be able to achieve the persona of who I am today and how I was able to live my life in a way I wanted to. Have I taken full advantage of all the opportunities that were given to me? That is debatable and to be discussed elsewhere.

I have the security of not worrying about where my next paycheck is coming from, or where I will get my next meal, or how I will pay for things I need (or want). There are no bombs or missiles flying overhead, no armed bands roaming the streets meting out their own “justice” in a name of a religion or a current strongman in power. I can criticize pretty much everything — be it the government or political parties or religious institutions or social forms or norms without fear of retaliation and harassment or worse. I can choose for myself any religion or form of worship I want, or choose none and still be a part of a society in good standing without any worries. And all that I simply considered a given for me for as long as I remember.

It is not a given to the vast majority of people on our planet. We who are living in a vaguely considered Western world are sheltered from reality or realities that billions of people face every day. And those people are not living only in faraway countries — everywhere in every nation are areas where people struggle to eke out a living and find hope for a better future for themselves but especially for their children. And for a while, when I was young, I thought that it was a natural way things are. That I deserved what I got because I was better than others, was smarter, or worked harder than those in a worse standing in life than I had. Then I grew up and realized that is such mindboggling bullshit. I am none of those things. And I don't really appreciate what I already got in life and I forget the fact that I can mold myself and my future life in any way I choose. I can choose and I think that is the most important and sadly overlooked blessing of all anyone can have in their lives.