Water Blogged

This weekend, Omaha had a ferocious thunderstorm complete with 5 inches of rain. My wife and I “ooh and aahed” at the lighting display and watched the Central High prom-goers run through the storm in their expensive dresses and rented tuxes. Despite the free entertainment we were provided Saturday night, not everyone had such a positive experience from the storm. My friend woke up to a gurgling sound at 2 am and subsequently found his basement flooded.

After pulling up his carpet, tearing out the padding, and doing our best to dry out everything I realized that he was taking it very well. I knew if that happened to me I would have a hard time being in a good mood. But for some reason he was just as positive and smiling as usual. It seems that nothing dampens his spirits.

Amidst carrying soaking wet padding to the garbage, trying to Shop-Vac the carpet, and moving furniture around, my friend put it into perspective for me. At one point he said, “It’s only carpet.” Very well put. He also said that he gets upset when he has to pay 84 cents for something that is only worth 54 cents. But when it comes to things like his basement flooding (which no doubt will cost hundreds of dollars), he kind of accepts it.

Those two comments really hit the nail on the head when thinking about our life and things that happen to us. In response to his first comment: If we could all look at situations that arise with that kind of mentality of: “It’s only carpet”, then we would be much better prepared when something unwelcome comes our way. To the second comment: Why is it that we get bent out of shape due to little inconveniences? I’ve always heard that, “It’s the little things that count”. It should also go the other way. “It’s the little things that drive us crazy” should be on a Hallmark card too. But that is just it. The little things can really be the things that bring out the worst in people. Why is it that big catastrophic type events bring out the best in people? I’m digressing and I’m sure this is getting into psychological theories which I’m not prepared to debate right now.

My point is focused on counting the blessings you have and being glad that you have the resources to deal with problems when they arise. Imagine your whole house being destroyed in something like Hurricane Katrina or more recently the tornado in Kansas that destroyed a town and killed 10 people. It makes you glad to have a house to put a new carpet in.

Like I said, my friend is a better man than I in that he kept his cool in a stressful and exasperating ordeal. His example is one that I wish we all could follow on a daily basis. When life throws us little or even monumental curves, may we be understanding that there are people less fortunate than us and be thankful of what God has given us. And if he can understand that with a flooded basement, then maybe it isn’t so bad when we get stuck behind a slow driver in traffic.