Saturday, May 28, 2011

Putting Life Into Perspective.........









This is just a quick post, some thoughts that I have recently had. Of how people can be so much worse off than we, of how the predicamennts of others can put our lives into perspective and of how life can be special without us even realizing it.

During the week I suddenly wondered what J and I would do once we finished work at Cresswell. The end is fast approaching and like so many others in the construction industry we have nothing to continue on to. What with the recent state elections and the end of the financial year approaching much of construction has been placed on hold or cancelled outright. J and I often consider ourselves lucky in that we have no debts like so many others. We simply have to worry about living, which can be expensive enough as it is but managable. But every now and then, like so may others, I wonder about the future and each time that I do this something happens to remind me of how fortunate we really are. Call it fate, call it faith or perhaps we could call it providence but each time I find the answers.





During the week a milkman, yes a milkman, and his wife contacted us to ask if perhaps we would like to place an order with them. I thought how strange this was at first. Then the wife explained that 80% of their businessw had traditionally been derived from supplying the supermarkets and shopping centers with milk and dairy products; that they had traded for over 50 years like this. Now those large business groups (W & C) were developing their own delivery services direct from the suppliers and the services of the little local milko were no longer needed. Hence, at a moment's notice this elderly couple who had been the "local milko" to the area for their entire married life (52 years) were redundant. How sad I thought and how scarey for them. What does one do when you are in your sixties and have toiled at nothing but the same thing since you were 19 eyars old? I wonder if there are programs out there for people such as this; more over I wonder just how many people such as these two, are out there in the very same predicamnt. What does one do when you can no longer produce an income or when your usefulness in the working world has reached an end? Imagine the despair, the worry and anxiety. One has to feel for these people.





Some thing like this puts life into perspective for us and makes us realize how lucky we are. J and I often talk about how happiness in life can really be based on a stress free life style rather than a materialistic lifestyle. That it is a freedom from worry and anxiety that really is the ultimate goal in life to strive for. I guess one could call it a "peace of mind".


I hope this couple, and many others like them, find peace of mind.




Photos- Autumn leaves have such character all of their own

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