Motivation and Perspective

This morning, I got up and cleaned my house. Starting with the sink full of dishes, I moved through one end of the apartment to the other, ending up with four loads of laundry. I'll be honest. I haven't felt very much motivated to do much of anything. My comic has not seen a single update in over a month; ideas for it are hard to come by. My pile of work has not diminished appreciably for the last several months. And there have been too many days this month that I have spent in bed, not able to get out of the house until 9:00 p.m. So while it may not seem all that noteworthy to have cleaned my house, it really is.


Boulder

While washing my laundry, but before my short hike to the grocery store, I ran into one of the staff here at student housing. He was a middle-aged man, wearing a white t-shirt and brown pants. He appeared to be rather bored pushing his cart of cleaning supplies around the laundry room, but as I loaded my clothes into one of the washers, he suddenly asked me if I had heard any recent news about Hurricane Rita and if it had hit the coast of Texas yet. I told him that I had heard on CNN that the storm was downgraded to a Category 3, but that was about all I knew. He began telling me about the meeting the student housing staff had recently. Apparently, our Governor had told all the state agencies they should be prepared to accommodate the evacuees from the recent Southern hurricanes. Consequently, as the cleaning guy wiped down the dryers, he elaborated that this meant our State school was already housing an 82 year old man in the one of the student housing apartments. Maybe, there would be more to come. If I understood correctly, this elderly man apparently lives very across the street from me. The cleaning guy said that he had a conversation with him where the old man stated that if he didn't see Louisiana again, it would be too soon. There are many levels to this whole thing, and I really feel for the old guy, but I am glad he is safe. I wonder how he feels to be living in a neighborhood that consists primarily of twenty-somethings.

The old guy's problems helps me keep some perspective on the personal troubles I have been having lately. No matter how bad thins are, there are always some who may have it a little worse. At least I have an apartment, live close to friends and family, and have a relatively defined plan for the future. This old guy has to start completely over.