Life Seems To Be A Feast

Greed goes a long way towards explaining this world's woes, but it is really only another one of those generalizations which are generally cop outs to reality. I remember when my aunt died and we wanted to leave. The old nurse on duty said, "The surgeon needs to see you, talk to you." It had never really occurred to me that he would take her death personally and deeply. I was too wrapped up in my own grief.

Young professionals expend a lot of money, time, hours and sacrifices to get where they are. They have options that would allow them to take easier roads than many of them do. There are always chances to take the eight to five route in almost any field, but the ones who don't often give up both the easy hours and the easy money. The old jokes about professors teaching because they can't really do the job, or doctors working in ERs because they can't do anything else are no more true than any other generalization. I was not a mother because I couldn't do anything else. I felt what I was doing was the most important thing in the world, developing the next generation.

I know a young public defender who could be sitting in a prestigious office raking in the money. Instead he works night and day desperately trying to give his clients the very best advice and defense he possibly can. He cares. He knows that what he does, or does not do, may ultimately change the life of another human being and everyone connected to him.

And so what do these young people do to unwind? The ones I know do not drive around town in big trucks tossing beer cans out the window, or get stoned and sit around smiling at themselves, or seeing if they can swipe merchandise from the local stores. The ones I know tend to pursue hobbies with as much gusto and determination as they did their careers. They rock climb, or ski, or do photography, or read voraciously, or sew, or fly, or play in bands, or any of a million other things. Life seems to be a feast that they cannot get enough of.

And they treat their mothers with love and a divine sense of humor, connecting with her the way she once connected with them, like all children do.