Things Could Be Worse

This morning I posted some woe-is-me comments about a few problems I've had this week. Then I went into a series of meetings this afternoon that were complete and utter wastes of time. i came out of the last on with steam boiling from my ears. I sat down in front of the PC and started a new post:

I work with idiots.

No, scratch that. It's unfair to idiots everywhere. I work with FRIGGIN' MORONS!!!

But I reconsidered and deleted the post.  :-)

A few minutes ago I came across something that cooled me off big time and made me realize how petty my problems truly are.

One of the things we as faculty do is evaluate applications for admission into our graduate programs. I was going through a stack of applications and came across the following, written as part of a letter of reference for an individual from south of the border who is applying to our university. It was written in part to explain why this person wanted to attend our school.

Last year, criminals assaulted his home while he and his wife were at work. If it had not been for the quick thinking housekeeper stating that the boy was her child, they would have probably kidnapped his son. Housekeepers do not have a lot of money to pay ransom so they didn't bother.

That really put things in perspective. No matter how bad my problems are, at least I don't live in a place where I have to worry about criminal gangs engaging in organized kidnapping rings. Yes, this country has issues, and we need to take action to fix a lot of things, but it's still the best place to live on this earth.

Let's do what we can to keep it that way...