Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Take time out to Contemplate!

In this fast lifestyle of work and play not enough people take the time to just sit and contemplate. I live in Washington DC and am constantly on the go...on the road at 7am in the morning to work, working from 8am till 6pm or later and back to my highrise apartment for dinner and my fav TV shows.

It is amazing how we spend 3/4 of our lives working and on the go. We should spend more time contemplating and thinking about life.

Every Saturday morning I wake up and walk to the Cafe to have a Coffee and Danish and this is the time that I take to contemplate. The Cafe is a very Europeanesque, if that is a word, it has an outdoor sitting area and always very interesting people to talk and chat with.

A week or two ago I met this Romanian lady who has now been the states for some time. It was the weekend of the 4th of July and we began to talk about the day and just how great this country is. She told me her story and it was amazing. Back in the 1960's Romania was going through a difficult time, a communist regime was in place and many atrocities were taking place. Police beating citizens in the street, imprisonment of citizens, it was a despotic rule and there was no freedom in the land. There were many citizens fleeing the land as refugees and she and her husband fled into Austria and were in refugee camps throughout the area. Her husband was a scientist and they had no children yet. They decided to make their way to the United States in hopes of freedom and a new life. They landed in NY City in 1969 not knowing anyone or even speaking the language. She said it was a very difficult time for them when they first arrived in the US but they were able to adapt and eventually found work and learned a bit of English. Her husband ended up teaching Science at Princeton University and they went on to build a great life in NJ. They were married for many years and had children and now grandchildren born in the US. Her husband passed away some time ago and every 4th of July they go to his gravesite in NJ and place flowers on the grave and commemerate his life.

She and her family thank God that they were able to find freedom in America and build a family here, but she is worried about the future of this country.

This lady told the story as if it happened yesterday with very vivid accounts of life and that time in Romania. It was a moving story and truly tell the story of America and why people come here.

Let's all take the time to contemplate and thank God for the life we have here in America.