Dear Humans Of The World
So I saw a friend’s rant on my facebook feed that started with “Dear humans of New York, you need to put up and shut up.” I don’t know what my friend was going on about and why he got so worked up, but it made me think of how we generally have a tendency to sometimes not appreciate what we have.
We who have so much, and yet somehow manage to find so much more to complain about. We act so entitled to our privilege when so many others are suffering from not getting their basic needs met. Ironically, those who don’t have much, have enough empathy from personal experience to still find ways in which to give what little they have from their heart. They are just too busy doing everything they can to survive, to live, they don’t have the luxury to bitch and moan about it.
Before we go on, I just wanna say I heart New York! I am not hating on anyone. So there's no need to be a hater. I am taking my friend's personal rant to a big picture level to touch on a larger point about people’s tendency to nitpick and find fault with all sorts of stuff, yet doing nothing to actually contribute to a beneficial solution. It is so easy to complain and create problems. It is much more difficult yet also much better if everyone spent that same energy coming up with solutions.
So here’s my open letter:
Dear humans of the world, when things do not matter, you need to put up and shut up. There are worse problems in this world than cable guys who don’t show up on time. There are worse issues to get angry about than road rage for the guy who wouldn’t let you cut in front of him. I’m sorry you didn’t get the Triple, Venti, Half Sweet, Non-Fat, Half-Caff, Soy Latte At 120 Degrees, With An Extra Shot And Cream that you wanted. It’s not the end of the world.
Maybe it is the end of the world as you know it, but get over yourself. enough with the whining. It’s not cool. Speaking of cool, what’s with losing your cool with so much stressing over small things? I mean, there’s just so much more to life. And not enough of life to waste on things that don’t add value to your life.
Why not grow some gratitude instead? And reach out to someone. A little eye contact and a smile once in a while, a good day how do you do, and a how are you and actually sticking around to care about the answer might help someone feel seen and make you feel less alone.
When you show appreciation to others, it makes their day, which makes them wanna be appreciative of you, which gives you good experiences, which might make your world as you know it better for you too. What goes around comes around. And not enough of the good stuff goes around.
The funny thing about the stuff that makes life truly good is that there is plenty to go around. And the more you give, the more you get.
Try it. Once you wake up and smell the coffee, it’s hard to go back to sleep.
#firstworldproblems #wakeupandsmellthecoffee #HumansOfTheWorld #liveletter #readaletter