The End of the World

On Thursday, as I was walking out of a SBUX to my car, I passed a familiar scene. Splattered on the concrete was a small drink - probably a hot chocolate. Standing next to the mess was a sobbing 3-year-old boy, with his face buried into his dad's thigh. His dad was saying things like, "It's ok! Mommy is getting another one. Don't cry... don't cry..."

If you're old enough to read this blog (so, like, ages 6 and up), then you have a good perspective on this situation. For the 3-year-old boy, of course, this dropped hot chocolate is the end of the world. It is the absolute biggest thing going on his life, and he's not so sure that he'll make it through. So you want to tell the boy, "Hey, it's going to be ok. Best case scenario... mom comes back in 3 minutes with another one! Worse case scenario... we head home, and in about 30 minutes, you'll be eating a yummy grilled cheese sandwich for lunch and you'll have forgotten all about your hot chocolate."

It takes being older than 3, and seeing other 3-year-olds go through and get through spilled drinks, or dropped ice cream cones, or broken crayons... to know that it really will be ok for them, and it's not the end of the world. Isn't perspective great?

But then you hit middle school, and 3 of the kids in the cool crowd say nasty things about you to everyone in your class. Your reputation (for this week) is ruined. It's the absolute biggest thing going on in your life. It's the end of the world. But you got through it.

High school comes along and you have nobody to goto the prom with, or nobody will accept your friend request on Facebook, or everybody else is getting into good colleges but you're still waiting to hear.

Once you get a little bit older, you look back at those experiences and realize that, even though at the time it was the biggest thing going on in your life, and it was the end of the world... in the end, it really was going to be ok. Others have gone before. And not being able to goto the prom is nothing compared to losing your job in a recession.

But then again, losing your job in a recession... is nothing compared to losing your friend in a car accident.

Our pain is valid. The things we go through, and what we feel as we go through them... certainly these things are not to be minimized. But too many times I've gone through a difficult experience thinking, This is the absolute biggest thing going on for me. I don't know how I'll get through this. This is the end of the world. And then, a week later, or 3 months later, or a few years down the road... I go through something bigger or more difficult, and the last thing really didn't seem quite as bad as I had thought at the time.

So, for today, this is my reminder to myself. I need to step back and get perspective. Big things... yes, they're big... but it's going to be ok. Best case scenario... a miraculous change of events turns everything for the better by noon today. Worse case scenario... I suffer a little bit longer, and maybe even die. But I think it's going to be ok.