Life – a four-letter word that holds a magnitude greater than any compilation of words in the English language. Every individual has a life full of trials and tribulations, triumphs and victories, as well as valleys and peaks. There are 7 billion people on this giant sphere we call Earth, and every life has a story. What signifies one from another?
The answer is attitude. Life does not regard our feelings or our circumstances, because at the end of the day, there are 7 billion people on this planet and each and every one of us will be tested. Whether it is financially, emotionally, spiritually, academically or physically, life will test us.
With that being said, we cannot dodge life forever, but we can alter the way we perceive this whirlwind of trials we all experience.
Last Monday, five days before her daughter’s fairy tale wedding, Kari Duane received a call from her 27-year-old bride-to-be daughter saying that the ceremony was off. Her fiancé had been having doubts about the wedding and the couple ultimately decided to call it quits before saying “I Do.”
To top it all off, this matrimonial ceremony cost the couple’s parents close to $35,000. The majority of this grand price had already been paid off when the couple decided to cancel the big day.
Mondays are rough, but this Monday was especially rough for this almost newlywed family.
Most of us regard Mondays with starting another week of classes, lectures, and quizzes. The thought of a nonrefundable $35,000 payment and a cancelled engagement never crosses our minds. For this Californian mom, this ordeal that looks like a catastrophe on the surface became an opportunity to service those with concerns that far surpassed her own.
Instead of cancelling the reception, Duane and her daughter decided to invite Sacramento’s homeless for a meal of a lifetime. On Saturday, October 17, Sacramento’s homeless community gathered at the Citizen Hotel, one of the city’s most elegant venues.
The paid reception was catered to serve 120 guests, but on Saturday night, it served 90 homeless single people, grandparents, and whole families with newborns. The meal consisted of courses ranging from appetizers and salads to gnocchi, salmon, and tri-tip.
As the doors to the Citizen Hotel opened for Sacramento’s less fortunate, Duane said, “Even though my husband and I were feeling very sad for our daughter, it was heartwarming to see so many people be there and enjoy a meal.”
Among the many who received a portion of Duane’s generosity was Erika Craycraft – a wife and mother of five. Craycaft said, “To lose out on something so important to yourself and then give it to someone else is really giving, really kind.”
Here at Baylor, and especially the BIC, we constantly feel bogged down by the course load and the responsibilities that we take on as BICers. We all face tribulations as college students, whether it is doing our own laundry for the first time or cramming to save our GPAs before finals season.
Rather than thinking about college as a stressor or a burden, we should perceive college as an opportunity to attain an education and shape a future that can potentially change a life. The opportunities we have as students today are not only blessings, but also an open door for us to explore the world and find our callings. There is no instruction manual to help us maneuver through college or life in general. The only thing we can do is change the way we perceive our circumstances.
Duane and her daughter could have easily sat in the reception hall of Citizen Hotel and pondered on the nonrefundable $35,000. Instead, they took their unfortunate circumstance to make a memorable impact on those who are struggling with feats of a completely different magnitude.
Attitude and perception is everything – whether it is a cancelled wedding or a final exam. We cannot avoid the trials of life, but we can trust in our own ability to change our outlook. We should take on our heavily-filled planners and deadlines as motivations to find ourselves and forge a path of pursuit towards the future.
The world is not going to change for us, we have to change the way we see the world for ourselves.
Kassie Hsu is a freshman BIC student majoring in neuroscience.
References:
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/canceled-california-wedding-leads-to-feast-for-homeless/ar-AAfBshB
It must have been tough to part with that much money for a non-event, but I believe the money went to a far worthier cause when they fed the homeless. Many of the invited guests would have complained about the food, decorations, or temperature, whereas the people fed truly understood the special treat they received. It was not charity so much as sharing bounty.