On my way home today, I got a flat tire, meaning that I had to either repair the tire on the sidewalk or walk the rest of the way home. I decided to walk. As I was walking home, I walked past a group of men who were gathered around a man who was laying face-down on the sidewalk. He wasn't moving, and a motorcycle lay at the side of the road nearby. Kinda put my problems into perspective.
Thankfully, the paramedics arrived and the man was able to communicate with them. He wasn't dead. But even if he was completely fine from then on out (which I'm not sure he was or would have been), he still would have had gone through an ordeal that put my inconvenience to shame. I might be annoyed that I had to walk a considerable distance and that I still have to fix my bike's tire tomorrow, but things could be worse for me, a LOT worse.
The same is true for all of us. All of us suffer, but there are many people whose sufferings are greater than ours. There are many people who have fewer blessings and greater hardships than we have. So, while we can always try to reduce our hardships, and we may even be justified in complaining about them, we should bear in mind that, despite our trials, we are still a lot better off than some people.
Everyone has problems, but we, as Americans, have many fewer problems than those who live in many other parts of the world. Things aren't perfect here, and we can and should try to make life more perfect here, but we should try to keep our grievances in perspective. Life is a lot harder elsewhere, and it's a lot harder for some people than it is for us.
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