When we get up each morning, we are faced with the first big decision of the day. Will I be happy or not? If I choose to look on the positive side and be happy, I will enjoy my day. If I look for the bad in everything, my whole day will be a disaster.
Most people don’t even want to be around unhappy people. We can look back . . .
at the year and say “this d*#@m virus is as bad as it ever was and here I am, I cannot go anywhere. I cannot visit friends in the hospital. Everything is expensive. My relatives can’t even come from Ontario to visit because they don’t have snow tires on their car.
On the positive side, I’m still alive, even though hundreds of my friends died this year. Most of my friends have already gotten their third COVID-19 vaccination. I have food to eat even though thousands in the world are hungry. I have a roof over my head and heat in my house. I have lots of clean water to drink, and clothes to wear. I can read and write while there are thousands who cannot even see. I can speak whatever language I want and worship however I wish in Canada, although one province in Canada wants to put restrictions on these basic rights.
Our farm and most of our neighbours have adequate feed for the animals this winter while in the same country many farmers experienced drought, fires, floods, or disease in their crops and will have their toughest year ever. There will be snowy and icy days this winter, but our roads are still not flooded. Our local snow fighters know how to clean the snow away, sand the icy spots and have lots of great equipment to keep our roads in shape and work day and night, every day, on weekends and holidays too.
We complain about the cost and inconvenience of adjusting our world to stop and reverse climate change but at least we know that some people are worried about the world that our children and grandchildren will inherit. Education will make it less expensive and easier for us to adjust.
As we get older, most of us experience some parts that ache and pain but we should be happy that we still have those parts. Our scientists and doctors have not discovered a cure for every ailment yet, but they have discovered that what we eat and how much we eat is the main cause of most of our health problems. Whether we want to eat better and less to correct these problems will be up to each individual.
We have lost too many of our best friends, relatives and neighbours who we could count on when we needed help or spend an hour with just enjoying each others company. There will be many empty chairs around the tables at Christmas this year.
Take time to look through some old pictures and remember the great time gone by. Memories can never be taken away. Let’s tell the ones still with us how much that they mean to us. Eat, drink, and sing with them.
The best memories are not expensive. In these hectic times we don’t take enough time to enjoy our most precious commodity, our friends. (Don’t forget to leave some nice hay out for the reindeer.)
