I'm driving home from work,worried about the bills,

[Swede]

my job,the drop of oil under my car..... At the red light in the car beside me is a girl,her mom is driving. She turns and smiles at me,she has Down's syndrome. I got such a lump in my throat. My problems are so insignificant and sometimes I get reminded of that fact.

[SoCalDem]

1. Perspective...ain't it great???..I use the 100 yr rule..

as in.. "100 years from now "it" (whatever is buggin me at the time) will not even matter "..:)

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. Its funny, but since I started working at the hospital,

I don't find myself bitchin' about MY life's situation so much.

As we say, people are living human documents who teach us much. And the sick are really the only ones who can teach us about health, and the dying teach us about life.

Looks like you have learned a lesson, and your post has taught me a lesson, because until I read your post, I hadn't realized how much my own bitching has gone down. So I can say confidently, "Yes! I DID learn something! Whew!"

I might worry about rent, but at least I'm not strapped down in a bed with renal failure and a trache and unable to communicate, etc. etc. etc.

[SoCalDem]

3. There is a "wive's tale or whatever" about troubles

..everyone throws their troubles into a pile so all can see them... then each person takes their own, and goes home ...

we all think we have the worst possible problems, until we see the problems that other people have..

We fell into the "Why US?" trap when our first child was born with a very serious birth defect, but 8 years of rattling around the halls at Mayo Clinic taught us that "our" problems were not as bad as we thought they were..

[Ilsa]

5. You too, huh?

My oldest has moderate autism, but is mainstreamed in school most of the day and is learning to read.

[Ilsa]

4. Hey, Rabrrrrr,

are you doing volunteer work there?

I'm trying to remember if you were the one looking at medical careers...but my memory sucks and I hit my head on the upper freezer door after bending down to pick up something my 4yr old dug out of the frig and then I stood up at the wrong time so I have head trauma right now and can't find the end of sentences...

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. No, I'm a chaplain

there

And no, I wouldn't be the one looking at a medical career.

Sorry to hear about your mishap - sounds painful as hell.

[tsipple]

7. What's that Monty Python Song?

"Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"

Worth playing every once in a while. Great song.

[cliss]

8. You're right.

I'm healthy as a horse, and all I do is worry about making enough $$$, making it through this year, making enough to save, hoping there won't be any layoffs even though our company now has a loss of $200,000 (I'm the accountant)...

There can be no doubt almost everybody I know is having financial problems right now. It's like we're getting squeezed from all directions. I know several people who have had their cars repossessed, a couple of families have been evicted from their homes due to foreclosure, 3 friends have filed for bankruptcy, on and on it goes.

It's really tough right now, but it helps to have some perspective. Paramahansa Yogananda said, "if a man loses his fortune, it's not a catastrophe because he can always earn it back again. If he loses his health, that is a worse matter because it's hard to be happy when you're not feeling well. However, if a man loses his hope, then he is truly done for".

Swede: är du från Sverige?

[Swede]

9. Sorry I'm third generation Swede

Don't know more than a few words.