You Don't Know What You Have Until It's Gone

     

     Have you ever hit a bump in the road, and all of a sudden it hits you that there is a longer road ahead of you and this should not be slowing you down?  Do we realize that there is more to life than going crazy and hurting people for the great Black Friday sale? In the Buddhist culture the ultimate goal is to reach Nirvana. It is a state Buddhists refers to as “Enlightenment.”  Nirvana is considered freedom from all worldly concerns such as greed, hate, and ignorance.

      “Nirvana means pacifying, silencing, or extinguishing the fire of suffering (Nhat Hanh pg 140).” It is not unusual for things to go wrong in people’s lives, but instead people get caught up in this tiny problem and forget the bigger picture. Nirvana is like a goal, everyone wants to reach it. “Nirvana teaches that we already are what we want to become. We don’t have to run after anything anymore (Nhat Hanh pg 140).” As mentioned in the opening paragraph, people will go crazy for Black Friday sales, but let us stop and remember why these sales are even happening. They are for Christmas! It is not about who gets the most presents,  spends the most or saves the most money, but it is about being with your loved ones, and giving in general. People, let us look at the bigger picture, the grand scheme of things and remember why we are doing this to begin with.

     Another example happened the other day I was in the training room listening to some student athletes talk about their Thanksgiving. This one male kept mentioning that his grandmother was complaining the whole time that the food was not as good as if she had cooked it herself. I was thinking, I respect the elderly, but thanksgiving is ALL about giving thanks for what we have. There are people all over the world who do not have a lot of things we have; the ability to be with family, eat a home cooked meal, or even have a place to live. We must sit and think how lucky we really are and appreciate things more, the big and especially the little things. Nirvana is all about trying to live a good and respectful life; one where we aren't greedy and and appreciate life. Be grateful for everything you have, “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone.”