Never Content...With Anything?

Spending the last two days being around kids at least fifteen hours per day, I've come to learn that they are never really happy with anything.  You give them the chance to drink soda at either lunch time or at dinner time, and they want to drink it during both.  You give them one quarter each to play the game at the restaurant, and they complain because they want more quarters.  You let them pick which movie they'd like to rent, and they all argue about which one to choose.  You can even say no to going out for ice cream because you have some in the freezer...and they'll throw a fit because the ice cream in the freezer at home isn't as near as good as the ice cream around the block.

It's sad.  When I think about it, it really is because there are kids in some places of the world who get excited about eating a rice casserole at school.  They get excited because it will be their only meal for an entire day.  Kids here wouldn't even like the casserole.  They wouldn't eat it...they'd rather beg their parents to go to McDonald's.

So you can't really say that it is "just kids being kids."  I am not sure who to blame it on, because it wouldn't be right to put the blame on just parents, friends or society.  Maybe it's just because growing up in a place like America, we quickly catch on to taking everything for granted.  We have easy access to almost anything and everything we want and need.  And if we don't get it, we get upset.  And, it's not just kids, either.  It is everyone.

I work at Panera, a local bakery-cafe close to where I live.  A few days ago, I was working and a co-worker of mine told me a story that I couldn't believe.  Just a few minutes before I clocked in, a customer came in and asked my co-worker if we had anymore chocolate chip bagels left, because she wanted to order some.  It was already four in the afternoon, so we were out of a lot of items, including chocolate chip bagels.  She explained to the lady and apologized.  The lady said, "I thought this was supposed to be a bakery....b****!" and threw her cup of soda across the counter at my co-worker and stormed out the door.  When I heard this, anger began to rise up in me.  How could someone do that?  Was the fact that we didn't have chocolate chip bagels really that big of a deal?

I guess I just don't understand how some people can be so rude when not getting what they want.  Myself included.  If I find myself running out of face wash, I run to the store to buy more so I won't get zits all over my face.  If I don't have the right kind of shampoo, I get upset because my hair doesn't get as soft as I'd like it to be.  I'll even find myself getting upset in church service sometimes because they play worship songs that I dislike.  How selfish.

This isn't meant to just go off ranting to you about how frustrated I am with others...and myself.  No.  I am just writing because I want to let it out.  I am so tired of people throwing fits when they don't have control.  It just needs to stop. 

When I find myself acting this way, I now think about Africa.  I think about kids there and how they get by with barely anything...and are still happy.  They appreciate what little they have and they have God in their hearts.  They truly inspire me and I have never even been there.  The stories I've heard almost bring me to tears sometimes because they make me so upset.  A recent blog I read was about how girls in Kenya are ecstatic when they receive new sanitary pads because they can go to school while being on their period.  They no longer have to stay at home all day, trying to make pads out of trash.  It brought tears to my eyes because I take so much of that for granted.  I don't really know quite what to think when I hear stories like that one. 

But I have learned this: I need to fully appreciate what I do have.  Because when I stop and think about it, I have so much more than I actually need.  And it's not hard.  It's such a great feeling when I thank God.

I don't know why God didn't put me in Africa.  I don't know why I didn't end up being one of those girls in Kenya trying to make sanitary pads out of garbage because I couldn't afford any.  I don't know why God didn't have me living in New Orleans a few years back when Hurricane Katrina hit.  I don't know why God didn't give me parents who would eventually divorce and in result, have a broken family.  I don't know why.  But I do know that God has blessed me very much.  And I am more thankful than I ever have been before.

So, when you get annoyed with kids because they are never happy, take a look at yourself.  If you're like me, you'll see that there really are many similarities...and it's your job to make the realization.  And then change because of it.