“It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them.”~Mark Twain
After taking what seemed to have been the longest shower in world history, I emerged from the bathroom and descended into my bedroom to rummage through my closet so that I could find something to wear.
The personal attendant who was hired by the current home health company shouting for me to “come back” because she was not finished.
When at last she was finished with her job, I returned to find something suitable to wear. After taking up another world’s record of time to figure that out, the attendant came at me with a long red bottle, ready for action.
If anyone is counting, it was a bottle of cologne by Perry Ellis.
She pumped that stuff all over the place. It was quite heavy and it would have been an overstated comment to say that it was “too much”.
Needless to say that everything that was selected to wear, was probably too much as well. I had no plans of going anywhere, and here I was in was designer clothes with really big names that were given to me at some point in time. The cologne being no acception as it was given to me as well. I think that the personal attendant merely was playing “dress up”.
Anyways, when I was out and about on the property, I ran by the person who had given me the cologne in the first place. He immediately indentified the scent that I was more or less half-bathed in. So then he would talk about how he needed to “hook me up” with some other things, and I asked him why he felt that way. And this is the whole point of this blog post, now that I’ve dragged out a long story.
I was all ears as I waited for a speech upon the soapbox. But his speech was short. Far shorter than I thought. “Because you deserve it”.
It had struck me because I had heard the same thing from a neighbor when she and I were discussing the fact that whenever a large donation of clothing is given to the apartment complex, that when she receives the shipment… she always goes through it to find men’s clothes that would fit me. And this is how I have ended up with the really nice designer clothing that I have today. Not because I can afford it, but because someone donated it and she recognized the value of them and immediately set them aside for me before distributing the rest into the community room for the rest of the residents to go through as they wish.
When I asked her a few days ago why she did things that way, she said the same exact words but only with more force and intention in her vocal tones. And then quickly realizing what she had done and tried to mask her “oops” with a bit of giggling and nervous laughter.
But in my mind, that had been two people believing the same exact thoughts.
I’m not quite sure what I have done or not done to “deserve it”. I just know that these two think so. So I have actual options when it comes to colognes and my wardrobe has rapidly grown. However, I personally think that the wardrobe increase comes from the fact that everyone here knew that I returned back here by the skin of my teeth after narrowly losing all belongings and life.
All the clothes that I had with me when I left my ex-girlfriend, could be stuffed in a backpack and one duffle bag. And the rest of my belongings were crammed back inside one more bag, and that’s all I had.
Sometimes we receive things, whether it be food, clothing, money, or anything really… and it’s not because we actually shown any merit for it. And of course, when we have shown merit we still receive our rewards.
With each and every time that I have received something from someone, I have always thanked them. It was a very good lesson that my step-mother taught me a long time ago. To say “thank you” for all that you have received. Whether its a written note or a verbal acknowledgement of gratitude, I have always done my best to do just that, and in a quick and timely manner.
I still cannot figure out why some believe that I deserve it all. But I suppose that sometimes, it is just better to acknowledge the blessings that have been given to me and be thankful. For whatever reason, it is the beliefs of these people that I have merit. And even though I cannot figure it out exactly, doesn’t mean that I should be rude to not accept their good will and kindness.
What I can say about it is that they wouldn’t have done it if they didn’t care. And quite obviously they do care. Whenever someone receives a gift such as these, its because someone cares. And so when you end up in these kinds of situations and you cannot figure out what you have done in order to receive whatever gift that has been given to you, at least think of that. Someone cares about you. And quite honestly, there probably isn’t any real reason, other than that.
Dambreaker 