bigger things

"There are bigger things in life..." says my Oma, smiling(!), as she scrubs the carpet in her apartment after my 1 and a half-year-old dog peed in the middle of it.


It's something I've been thinking about a lot lately, the big things in life I mean, and how it really seems stupid that I make such a big deal out of the little things. About two weeks ago we were talking about anger at my church youth group, and about how we should get passionate about the things that REALLY matter. Not the "Oh no! My new shirt isn't dry! i can't wear it to school today, im so angry my mom didn't wash it" kind of stuff, but about things that affect our lives or the lives of other people in major ways. Like AIDS, or starvation, or the homeless, or abuse, or the fact that about one in every eight teens is clinically depressed. Things that matter, that affect lives. 


Every year AIDS infects more than 36 million people every year, and orphans over 15 million children. Things like that are the things to worry about, to get passionate about and to act upon. So often I find myself getting irritated when my friends don't call me when they say they will, or if I get sick. On Wednesday i'm getting my wisdom teeth out, and (I'm not going to lie) I'm pretty scared and also mad that I have to get them out in the first place. But for other people, having their wisdom teeth taken out would be heaven compared to what they have to live with each and every day. I complain if I'm too busy to eat lunch, meanwhile teens in my own town are homeless and starving, unable to support themsleves.


Last year I did a powerpoint presentation in one of my classes on the AIDS pandemic and the effects that it has on the people of Africa, especailly children. But I don't think the harsh reality of it all had really hit me until this past week. I mean I can stand in front of a class all I want and tell them about what AIDS is doing to the country of Africa, but what am I doing about it? Am I even upset about it?


Life for me used to work like this: getting up late for school and having my mom ask me to let the dog out before I leave would start my day off on a bad note. Having to wait in long lines at a store (when I really have plenty of time and am in no rush whatsoever) would get on my nerves and make me irritable. But I'm hoping that now, instead of being in a foul mood becasue my day didn't work out the way I wanted it to, I'll remember to be thankful because there are countless kids in Africa that have to take care of their three yonger siblings while they watch their parents die form HIV/AIDS. And instead of becoming irritated at the fact that I have to wait in a line-up just to buy 3 items, I'm hoping to be thankful that I have the life I do, because at least I don't have to walk 2 days to the nearest well to get water that isn't even clean.


"There are bigger things in life." What are my small problems compared to the worlds? Just a thought i had, that was planted by other people who challenged me to start thinking differently, to see the wolrd in a different light and to care about what really matters in life: the big things, the things that can chage a life, not the small things that won't matter tomorrow.