Having a new job is stressful. There have been a few days when I come home when I am not in the best of moods. Samuel, being a friendly person, will often ask how my day was. I try to be honest without focusing on complaints. I might say something like "I've had better," and leave it at that (though there have been several "pretty good" days, too). I'll then ask how his day was and almost always get a "good" as the reply, sometimes with further elaboration.
Lately, however, I've been more careful about what I say. Nigeria has suffered great tragedy recently in the form of terrorist attacks that have killed hundreds. If that wasn't bad enough, over 200 young girls have been kidnapped, likely to be sold into forced prostitution. Samuel has lost sleep over worrying about these events. He hasn't lost any family in all of this, but it still hits close to home.
Now, think about having that person as a roommate and try to complain about having to work hard at a job so that you can earn a ridiculous amount of money. Mind you, Samuel never said that I have it too good to complain: he's far too polite. Instead, I just feel like a heel for complaining about minor trials when his homeland is under attack.
This experience is a good reminder to me of how good I have it and how I should appreciate every stressful day that I experience because no matter how bad I have it, I have a clear picture of how it could be worse.
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