Pause the party

I have had a pretty crappy day, a couple of long and crappy days in fact but today as I stood at the kitchen counter slicing tomatoes from my garden I thought of another person and it caused me to pause the pity party I was having for myself.

I have had a crappy day but I have a family who loves me.
I am not a teenager faced with an unexpected pregnancy, a dying parent and another parent who couldn't give a damn. I think that teenagers day was worse than mine.

I am whining about all the food garden being ready before the boys are back in school and during a heat wave.
I am not a farmer looking at fields filled with water wondering how I am going to recover after flooding has washed away everything I had. I think that farmers day is worse than mine.

I have a roof over my head and air conditioning at night.
I am not Haitian woman still living in a tent with my children months after an earthquake killed my husband and destroyed my home. I think she is having a worse day.

I am whining that school is still 6 days away.
I am not a child who longs to go to school and learn to read but cannot because they must work in a factory to help feed their family. I think that child who longs to learn will have a worse day.

I am complaining about my sore body and my allergies.
I do not have cancer or multiple sclerosis, I think my friends who are looking at treatments for these diseases might deserve a little more pity than I do and yet they are upbeat and positive as they face the unknown

Yes I have had a bad day, but in the end it is all about perspective.

Sometimes tomatoes teach us amazing things.