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About the simple pleasures in life. Sitting around in just your underwear while watching mindless television and eating ice cream straight from the box. Or a drive-thru burger topped off by the simplicity of a fried apple pie. I really could go on and on about these simple pleasures including how the grass smells just after it's been cut, or the way an orange smells when you begin peeling it with your fingers. And, for me, hearing the national anthem at the beginning of a football game still brings tears to my eyes each and every time.
When we become complacent with our lives and take things and people for granted, it is these pleasures that should remind us what life is all about. Whispering secrets in the dark to someone you love more than yourself, or laughing at a stage comedian until you think you'll pee your pants. It is what I like to call hope. Hope that no matter what tomorrow brings, there is always something to be appreciated.
I once sent a brand new baseball to a friend of mine for his birthday. He had been deployed to Iraq and I knew he was lonely and a little sad at spending this day without family and friends. When he received it he laughed and as soon as he could he wrote to me and asked why a baseball? Well, my answer was simple. I didn't send him the baseball to play with but only as a reminder of home and of happier times of his youth. I asked him to hold the ball in his hand and close his eyes and try to recall the last time he played in a game. As he did, he wrote to me everything that he remembered. The crack of the bat as it hit the ball, the smell of his leather glove, the excitement of the crowd and seeing his family in the stands cheering his team on to victory. His senses became full with these memories and then he knew why I sent him the ball. It was reminder for him, that although there would be no baseball game for him today he had hope that there would be again soon. We talked often while he was away and I'd occasionally ask about his baseball, and every time he'd tell me that it was sitting right beside his computer and that when he was feeling lost or homesick he would hold it again and feel the hope that it evoked in him.
We all need hope. We need to believe that one day our dreams will come true, that our government might know what it's doing, and that surely global warming won't take my beaches away from me. Hope is small word with big meaning. Different for everyone, yet the same. I challenge you to look for the little things in life; the simple pleasures of true happiness.
When we become complacent with our lives and take things and people for granted, it is these pleasures that should remind us what life is all about. Whispering secrets in the dark to someone you love more than yourself, or laughing at a stage comedian until you think you'll pee your pants. It is what I like to call hope. Hope that no matter what tomorrow brings, there is always something to be appreciated.
I once sent a brand new baseball to a friend of mine for his birthday. He had been deployed to Iraq and I knew he was lonely and a little sad at spending this day without family and friends. When he received it he laughed and as soon as he could he wrote to me and asked why a baseball? Well, my answer was simple. I didn't send him the baseball to play with but only as a reminder of home and of happier times of his youth. I asked him to hold the ball in his hand and close his eyes and try to recall the last time he played in a game. As he did, he wrote to me everything that he remembered. The crack of the bat as it hit the ball, the smell of his leather glove, the excitement of the crowd and seeing his family in the stands cheering his team on to victory. His senses became full with these memories and then he knew why I sent him the ball. It was reminder for him, that although there would be no baseball game for him today he had hope that there would be again soon. We talked often while he was away and I'd occasionally ask about his baseball, and every time he'd tell me that it was sitting right beside his computer and that when he was feeling lost or homesick he would hold it again and feel the hope that it evoked in him.
We all need hope. We need to believe that one day our dreams will come true, that our government might know what it's doing, and that surely global warming won't take my beaches away from me. Hope is small word with big meaning. Different for everyone, yet the same. I challenge you to look for the little things in life; the simple pleasures of true happiness.
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