"deserve"

Generally, it's music that makes sense of the world for me.
Driving home from class today, once verse in particular sent me down another path:
"Each day is a gift and not a given right."

Somewhere along the line, we have gotten the idea that we "deserve" certain things out of life. That we deserve to live an easy, comfortable life, feeling as if we own each day and it should provide to us, like an employee of sorts. Somewhere along the line, this feeling of ownership came back to bite us, with the realization that we cannot expect the world to provide simply because we "deserve" it. The residents at my work always say "Every day that I wake up again is a good day" when asked how they are. The simple act of waking up every morning is not even something to be expected, earned or deserved. This ability, in itself is a gift, and I plan to start each morning from now on being grateful for that gift.

Without the expectation that you "deserve" things out of life, you are free to be grateful for every good thing that comes you way as an unexpected surprise, not as something adding up to fill your quota of the good things you deserve. Realize that we, as the general population of humans, have made enough mistakes, that we really deserve nothing. Even those who are "essentially good people" who expect to have Karma repay them, if you have that expectation, you have gone into the good acts expecting reward, with impure motives. The world is full of kind people, but not one of them "deserves" the perfect life, and not one will ever lead it. Every kind act toward us, every happy "coincidence", sunny day, every "good day" is more than we deserve. Let that overwhelm you with happiness and gratefulness. We have so much more than we deserve.


(On that note, I am calm again. "All I know is, I'm going to be alright." This is my attempt, I won't always get it right, but here's to trying.)