Reality Check

It's time for a reality check this morning. I've been agonizing for days over something that I now see as pretty trivial. I've been worrying and fretting over how to promote my book more, just to get sales up a little. And then I turn on the TV this morning and see all the devastation up north from Sandy, and suddenly I realize that my personal concerns are nothing compared to what those poor folks are suffering. Now I feel a little guilty. I live in an area where people come to visit and end up staying. It's a little piece of heaven on earth. And the real beauty of it is not so much the spectacular scenery, although it's everywhere you look. The real beauty lies in the fact that most here can live off the land. We're a bunch of self-sufficient, hardy folks who grow gardens in the summer, heat with wood in the winter, and don't worry too much if the power is off for a few days due to a snowstorm. But the citizens of lower Manhattan don't have that luxury. When they don't have electricity, they don't have heat, or running water... they can't prepare a hot meal or have a hot shower. Watching the news this morning, I found myself wishing I could just open my home to some of those poor, struggling people... just to offer a little bit of solace for them until they could get their lives back together. Yep, I'm reminded yet again that when we think things are dire, there's always someone else who has it much worse. Now, suddenly selling a few more books doesn't seem so important anymore.