012 Do you ever celebrate the green lights?

I think the general rule is that once you get a green light, you get mostly green lights after that. If you get a red light, you will probably get only red lights after that. I never celebrate the green lights. My mom and I rant all about the red lights, but we never pay attention to the green lights. Sometimes I get to math class really quickly, and we'll smile and be surprised. But we never credit the green lights for that.

Is that wrong? Is it wrong to complain about the bad parts and take the good parts for granted?

There are plenty of things in my life I don't like. There are plenty of things I complain about, rant about, scream about. I didn't get into the schools I wanted to. I didn't want mushrooms on my pizza. I didn't want my bed to be in the middle of my bedrooms.

I guess what I don't notice is that for every school I didn't get into, I got put on the waiting list. For every mushroom on my pizza, I got cheese and pepperoni as well. And at least I have a bed, right?

There's so much I take for granted. My health, my education, my home, and my family are only a few examples.

I was reading The Fault In Our Stars (which I would recommend, but you've probably already read it), and something caught my eye (sorry Isaac). Hazel discusses "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs".

Basically, it goes like this. Once you have the bottom layer (bare essentials: breathing, food, water, shelter, clothing, sleep), you move onto the one on top and take the bottom one for granted. You look for health, employment, property, family, and social stability. Then, once you've achieved that, you take both bottom layers for granted and move onto the third layer. You seek friendship, family, intimacy, and sense of connection. After that, you build confidence, achievement, respect for others, and the need to be a unique individual in a society as large as ours. Finally, you seek your Nirvana, your sense of balance and peace; you find your morality, creativity, spontaneity, acceptance, and you experience purpose, meaning, and inner potential.

Most people I know are born with the first two layers already. Quickly, the third layer is established at a young age. I think I'm mostly at the fourth level, as are most of my classmates in high school.

Many people are still struggling to find the first two base levels. And this bothers me, because as people look for their personal tranquility, happiness, et.c, there are people who do not have anything to take for granted. And I think that from now on, I'll try to be happier, because I have my health, anything I need to survive, friends and family who are alive, an excellent education, and that's much more than what other people have. I don't have anything to complain about.

- Quibbles 7/29/14