Perspective

[JeffC]

As I sit here tonight half reading the various threads and watching the inane banter unfold on various threads, I wonder why I am even reading them. It all seems like minutiae now. While my wife and daughters are sleeping peacefully upstairs, I wonder what my my next door neighbors are doing right now.

This afternoon my neighbors got the news that no parent ever wants to get. Their 18 year old son was found dead in his dorm room by his roommate. The details of his death aren't out yet, but do they even really matter? I know they do. The human psyche always seems to want to know why something like this happens, if only to torture itself with what ifs. But the fact remains, his family will not be going to his college graduation, they won't celebrate his marraige, they won't be able to see the joy in his eyes when he holds his child for the first time, they won't...everything.

Why is it that it takes something like this to make you realize you need to spend more time enjoying your family?

Please keep my neighbors in your prayers.

Jeff

[dhyatt]

As I sit here tonight half reading the various threads and watching the inane banter unfold on various threads, I wonder why I am even reading them. It all seems like minutiae now. While my wife and daughters are sleeping peacefully upstairs, I wonder what my my next door neighbors are doing right now.

This afternoon my neighbors got the news that no parent ever wants to get. Their 18 year old son was found dead in his dorm room by his roommate. The details of his death aren't out yet, but do they even really matter? I know they do. The human psyche always seems to want to know why something like this happens, if only to torture itself with what ifs. But the fact remains, his family will not be going to his college graduation, they won't celebrate his marraige, they won't be able to see the joy in his eyes when he holds his child for the first time, they won't...everything.

Why is it that it takes something like this to make you realize you need to spend more time enjoying your family?

Please keep my neighbors in your prayers.

Jeff

Jeff,
If it helps any, I ponder these things myself rather often. I'm always saddened when events like this cross paths with those of my own life and I whisper a silent prayer of thanks that my family is still safe & healthy. I made a decision many years ago that I still do my best to honor and that is to help those that I run across in daily life that need help. I don't have the patience nor the emotional stamina to heel the sick and feed the poor on a daily basis but when I see somebody with car trouble, I stop to help. When I see a mother with children struggling with groceries I try to lend a helping hand. All we can do in this life is be grateful for the opportunities we have, work to make the best of them, avoid trampling on others in the process - and keep in mind that others face the same daily trials as we do. Sometimes theirs are much worse and the best we can do is listen and offer them a shoulder to cry on. If everyone did these simple things, the world would be a much happier place.