Perspective

When I was in second grade I landed the lead role in the school play. I was to be George Washington. For those of you who don't know, he was the first president of the US of A and, therefore, the best. How did I land this role you ask? Well, I took acting classes after school since pre-K and I straight studied the characters on Sesame Street. What made them so good, so funny, so real!? I had to know. So I went to work. And all that work paid off. I got the lead.

Okay, so it didn't actually happen like that. I never took an acting class and never paid enough attention to Big Bird to gain anything more than some laughs and the ability to say my ABCs. But I did land the lead in the school play. How did that happen? Was it a result of hard work? Nope. A great audition? Nope. Did I look the part? No, again.

I was selected for the lead role because when the teacher reached into the bowl the slip of paper she pulled out had "Blake Naylor" written on it (that's me in case you stumbled upon my blog by accident).

It was random, completely.

That doesn't seem fair, does it? When they read the first name most people assumed the last name would be Armstrong. Blake Armstrong was a fifth grader and he had already done some acting. He would go on to shoot commercials or BB guns or something like that. All that to say, he should have gotten the part. Not me.

Life's not fair. Admit it, you've said it. Maybe you were a kid. Maybe it was college. Maybe you said it recently.

Now, when you said it, was the "not fair" you were talking about in reference to yourself? Was life, at that moment, not fair for you? If you're like me (which you probably aren't because you are most likely cool and not awkward - why exactly are you reading my blog?), then yes, you say life's not fair most often when things aren't going the way you would like them to.

How often have you said it on behalf of someone else? Like life isn't fair, but it's not you who have been slighted, but someone else?

Media trains us to feel like things are out of balance and we are the ones in need of something to bring life back to fairness. We need, deserve, and are required to have certain "necessities" like lattes, lexus', and large screen TVs. We deserve it. We find a reason why we deserve it. Someone else has it and so we feel like it's only fair that we have it too. It's only fair. Why should they have it and we suffer?

One of the greatest things we can ever attain in life is perspective. Without perspective we are prideful, greedy, unsatisfied people. With perspective comes humility, generosity, and gratitude.

When I was eighteen years old I went overseas for the first time. It was in the slum in a garbage dump in Egypt that I began asking the question, "why me?" Why do I not wake up every morning to the stink of the rest of the societies garbage, to the prospect of hunting through this garbage for my own sustenance, and to the reality that my life would be incredibly difficult and probably very short.

For me, life hasn't been that hard. I've never really had to worry about food, my health, a place to live, or anything else like that. Life was unfair when a friend's parent's bought them a new car and I got a used car in high school (oh, the tragedy). It was unfair when my baseball coach selected another player to start over me. It was unfair when my friends went to the beach to tan and I went to burn (darn you Irish skin).

Placed in my own bubble of Southern California, I can find reasons for why life is unfair. Reasons for why I can sulk or buy something to "cheer me up." Life can always be unfair for me, if I want it to be.

But if I broaden my bubble, if I grow my perspective, I soon find out that, yes, life is not fair...for many others. Life has treated me more than fair. But others, in the states and abroad, face much tougher circumstances. People will wake up tomorrow and the first question that will pop in their head isn't "what will I have for breakfast", but "will I eat at all today." People will wake up and it won't be a test at school or a presentation at work that has them worried, but it will be their loved one who is deathly ill. A man will awake after a restless night on a cold winter street to face another day filled with humiliation and averted eyes. A woman will wake up and weep because her miscarriage yesterday was her fourth and she will see all around her parents unappreciative of the children they have and she desperately desires.

Perspective.

It changes how we look at our self. It changes how we look at our situation. It changes how we look at others.

We could all use some perspective, to step into the reality of those around us. It will help us appreciate what we have and allow us to respond to others with grace and humility.

After all, I had no part in landing the lead role in the school play. I also had no part in landing the role I have on Earth. I didn't choose to be born into a middle income family. I didn't have to work to have 3 meals a day, 2 loving parents, a good education, and a home over my head. I was...born. And, from my perspective, it was random. My name was drawn out of a hat and I got a pretty good role. But most of the rest of the world had their name drawn and their role is drastically different than mine...drastically more difficult.

May we gain perspective and with it gain humility, grace, and gratitude.