You had a bad day

We all have bad days, but what really constitutes a bad day? Is it the bad weather, the mean boss, the stress of raising children, the fight with your friend? Or is it the really bad things, illness, losing your job, losing your home, losing your loved one?

With this horrible economy, we are all seeing more and more people becoming financially strapped. We have all been touched by watching our friends, families and neighbors lose their homes to foreclosures or lose their jobs to layoffs. Is there a way we can help others or is this just what we have to accept as the "norm" of the times? Is there something we can do to improve the economy or do we have to just sit back and "take it," pay the high prices of gas, and accept losing our homes, our jobs, and our livelihood.   

To me a bad day constitutes illness, death, a student killing his classmates. ... I try to brush off the financial difficulties and look toward what I consider the tragedies that occur each day. When I heard about the shooting at Chardon High School, I was shocked; it was so devastating to our community. When I watched the parents on the news who had to deal with the loss of their children, I literally cried. What a horrible, horrible thing to send your child to school, which should be the safest place in the world and find out they were taken from you in a senseless tragedy.

How horrible for the family of the shooter who have to live with the knowledge that their child or grandchild was the source of so much pain to others. I recently read the book, "We Need To Talk About Kevin," by Lionel Shriver, a book written from the point of view of a mother whose son kills his classmates. What a heart-wrenching book to listen to a mother have to describe her life after this massacre. I do not think you can ever recover from losing your child, ever, no matter how that loss occurs. 

When we refer to having a bad day, many people exaggerate their problems, whether it is simply looking for attention or simply not understanding what is really a problem. We are all given coping skills to overcome tragedies and loss and heartbreak. We are all told life goes on ... that we must simply move forward. Tell that to a person who just lost their spouse. Tell that to a person who has just lost their home. Tell that to a person who has just found out they have cancer. Tell that to the parents of the child who was shot in the school cafeteria.

How do you cope with life when a devastating blow "blindslides" you? Is it their spiritual beliefs or simply the human instinct to survive? What really constitutes a bad day? Next time you think you are having a bad day, remember the parents of the children who were killed in Chardon. Just maybe your day will not seem quite so bad ...  

Click here: Daniel Powter - Bad Day (Video) - YouTube