Spoiled, Nothin'

Today Lucas and I met up with our friends Charlie and Tamiko and went to the Mill Creek outdoor pool. It was great, besides the brute children who were taking over the pool! Anyway, it was flippin hot out this afternoon and as I'm driving Lucas home in our car with broken A/C, I began to feel a little princess-like, thinking about how much I hated roasting in the car and why we can't just get the A/C fixed, blah blah. Then it occurred to me- I can't be like this and I think that it's these little luxuries that I don't want Lucas to get used to. Not livin' the high life, if you will. We are too fortunate and lucky to complain about such small details in life. I know it's just A/C, but it's so much more than that.

Dan's friend once told him a story about how when he was little, he used to live near a family with horses and complained to his dad saying that he hated being poor and that he wished they had horses. The result... his dad took him to the most grim and poor parts of Calgary to make him realize that THIS is poor and they are really, very fortunate.

This whole A/C situation began as something so small and made me think about so many other things. For example, Dan always says that he doesn't want Lucas to grow up not knowing about people who are less fortunate or about people from different economic backgrounds or other cultures. I completely agree and it makes me think about how spoiled and ignorant kids (and their PARENTS, even worse!) are today. Life has become all about stuff, the latest trend or who has the fastest gadget. While I don't want Lucas to live in the dark ages, I don't want to raise him thinking that these material things are a normal part of everyday life. Sorry, this is quite the rant! I guess things have changed so much since I was younger and it's kind of scary thinking about what Lucas will have to go through when he's a teenager or University, or tradeschool-whatever he chooses.

Now, back to this whole issue of exposing Lucas to other people and situations... living in Alberta has allowed me to learn a few things. For the most part, living in Edmonton has been great and does not meet up to the stereotype of hick Alberta. But the other parts of me have also met quite a few YOUNG and EDUCATED people who are as ignorant and dare I say, racist as Ma and Pa living in the back shed. This makes me sad. It makes me sad to think of Lucas being around people who are not accepting of other people because of their ethnicity or the clothes they wear or the language they speak. Need I remind you that Lucas is not entirely ONE thing. He is Filipino, Ukrainian AND Italian and for that, Dan and I are very proud. He is made up of all these great backgrounds and culture and heritage and sometimes I feel like people forget that.

I don't even know where I'm going with all of this! But, I guess I just had time to reflect in the blistering hot car about simple things in life and one thing led to another. At times I feel that I am disappointed in people's actions, but don't know how to react or what to say. I just think that people need to think a little more before they say things or at least question why they might feel a certain way. Nothing is set in stone and there is always time to change.