Making others happy.

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. And every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.

The man in the other bed began to live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside. The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color of the rainbow. Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene. One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn't hear the band he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words.

Then unexpectedly, a sinister thought entered his mind. Why should the other man alone experience all the pleasures of seeing everything while he himself never got to see anything? It didn't seem fair. At first thought the man felt ashamed. But as the days passed and he missed seeing more sights, his envy eroded into resentment and soon turned him sour. He began to brood and he found himself unable to sleep. He should be by that window -- that thought, and only that thought now controlled his life.

Late one night as he lay staring at the ceiling, the man by the window began to cough. He was choking on the fluid in his lungs. The other man watched in the dimly lit room as the struggling man by the window groped for the button to call for help. Listening from across the room he never moved, never pushed his own button which would have brought the nurse running in. In less than five minutes the coughing and choking stopped, along with that the sound of breathing.

Now there was only silence-deathly silence. The following morning the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths. When she found the lifeless body of the man by the window, she was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take it away. As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the world outside. Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it all himself. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall.The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate since he had described such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall. She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you."

You can interpret the story in any way you like. But one moral stands out: There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations. Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled. If you want to feel rich, just count all of the things you have that money can't buy.

Blog more and some Christmas...

Just noticed I haven't written in about 2 weeks even though I was told ''Blog more'' it is entertaining. So here it is a bit more blogging of me.

We are now December 1st and it's a monday. Ugh. Me and Garfield would get along great. I love lasagna and freakin' hate mondays. There is nothing good that comes out of a monday, at least not for me. Unless a birthday or a holiday happens to be on a monday, I don't see what good can come out of that day. Again it's a pessimistic (Is that even how you write it? Meh.) way of looking at it and i've been working a lot on trying to see stuff as positively as possible but on a monday, I can't bring myself to do it.

However, December 1st. BOOYA. Means 2008 is that much closer to being over. In december 2007, I said: ''I'mma make 2008 a great year.'' and well life pee'd in my cheerios and 2008 was somewhat of a shitty year on love, finances and health (Well health, mental health but i'm better now... I think?) mainly because I let it ride me instead of me charging it like a stark raving mad.

Not this time. I'm going to ride the bull this year instead of letting him ride me. 2009 is looking great with all the projects underway. I guess feeling in the mood for Christmas this year helps. Last year I was out of it and there was not that much difference between me and Scrooge. Bah hum-bug. This year, I feel festive. I feel like dressing up like Santa and making kids happy. I feel like decorating a 100 feet tall Christmas tree just because I wanna feel all giddy inside just looking at it. I wanna buy everyone presents but let's not go overboard shall we? Just saying, i'm happy to feel the Christmas magic this year. I miss being a kid for that. I miss not knowing that Santa is actualy dad or uncle bob that's just a bit too drunk. I miss those 2 weeks off of snowball fights, christmas present enjoyment and over all winter love.

Also, I haven't heard THAT much about Christmas yet. I did avoid all shopping centers in November so I didn't see the decorations up since Nov 1st and I didn't hear ''Jingle Bells'' yet. Anyone working in a shopping center knows what i'm talking about, not hearing about it so early helps a lot in getting in the mood for it.

So... I'm feeling much better in my head, i'm looking forward to Christmas, 2009 is going to be a great year... No bitching and whining? No, not today. I'll keep that for tomorrow!