A Reminder

It took me a while, but I think I'm finally starting to understand that I'm living a privileged life. Yes, of course I've heard on the news of people less fortunate than I: people in Haiti struggling to survive, family members who've lost their loved ones in 9/11, children in Africa starving to death. Still, I hardly give them a week's thought, and then I continue with my life, oblivious to their pains. I guess it's just that these stories seem so remote that I don't pay much attention to them. But after this weekend, I'll try not to be so wasteful with my life.

This Chinese New Year, my parents and I decide to go eat out at a Chinese restaurant. I stuffed myself full, satiating my hunger. I was content. Then, my mom asked for the bill, and the waiter, a young man of about 21 years old, came. He was soft-spoken with his kempt, light-brown hair brushed to one side. Nothing really out of the ordinary. I watched with a side-long glance as my mom paid the bill - and gave twenty dollars extra. I knew it was Chinese New Year, but a twenty-dollar tip seemed a bit much to give to a stranger considering my parents' frugality. The waiter politely refused the money, but my mom was insistent. He soon gave in, thanking profusely with a smile not of greed, but of genuine appreciation. I couldn't help but smile myself, yet, I was still a bit confused with the big tip.

My mom explained her actions. It ended up that the waiter was not a stranger at all, but an erstwhile coworker. He was born into a poor family in China. His parents divorced when he was still young. He and his mother managed get to America to try to make a new start. He had virtually no education, so he was forced to work as an unskilled laborer. He lives in a house full of cracks and leaks. His mother is weak with age and illness. He works for the sake of himself and his mother. One day, his mother fell and was pretty much crippled. His boss wouldn't let him leave work, for some strange reason. He resolved to get fired in order to help his mom. He didn't complain or anything; he just kept quiet. He doesn't have the luxury of an education, of a computer, of a good standard of living, and he isn't the only one. Throughout history and throughout the world, there were/are people just like him. There were/are people worse off than he is.

So here I am, at my computer, procrastinating. Wasting my life away. Complaining that I have too much homework to do. Bummed out because I'm not happy with my life. Hah - as if I have a right to say anything about that.

So maybe you've heard this same message over and over already. Don't take anything for granted, there's always someone worse off than you are, etc. Well, here's another reminder for you.