I was thinking about that recently and wondering what I could do to make my myself a better person. While pondering that thought, the old adage, "I wept because I had no shoes, and then I saw a man who had no feet" went through my mind.
I don't think I apply that wisdom to my days as much as I should.
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I watched one little girl push the bowling ball off the large metal guide that was used to assist her.
That's humbling. I can scour my recent memory but not find anything that even holds a tiny candle to the flame of adversity that little child has seen.
And that is really just one small example. People who have not been dealt a fair hand are everywhere, and those of us who wallow in our own self-pity out-number them 10 to 1 for sure.
It's true, we all have our own cross to bear in some way. Before I had even become an adult I was diagnosed with Alcoholism, and by the time I was in my early 20s the diagnosis was changed to Chronic Alcoholism. When I was 27-years-old the doctor told me I would be dead in a few weeks.
A brand new father of a 9 month-old little girl at that time, locked in a hospital ward, wrestling with angel, I saw a little girl standing beside a woman who was telling her, "Your daddy sleeps here because he wouldn't stop drinking."
That was the end for me, 12 years ago.
The irony of it all to me these days is I had a choice to get better; there are those who do not. The double irony is that there are those who have no choice, but do not feel sorry for themselves. The most tragic irony is I was enslaved because I felt sorry for myself.
I have shoes, I have feet, and I don't sleep beneath a stone where small children must visit.
I guess my new year's resolution is to thoroughly enjoy putting my shoes on everyday. And if someone happens to steal them, I'll probably be found sitting there with a strange grin on my face, looking at my feet.
TIMOTHY HOLMSETH can be reached at timh@wahpetondailynews.com.
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