Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and all I have done for the past week or so is have a pity party that we won’t be celebrating the holidays with our family this year. No, they don’t have Thanksgiving in Indonesia; well at least it’s not a holiday for my husband or kids, and I have been told that Christmas just isn’t the same as back home. The holidays are my favorite time of year. There is something about the weather getting cooler, more time with my whole family, being in the kitchen all day cooking a turkey with all the trimmings, the sound of Christmas music and decorations going up at home and in the stores; you get the picture. But this year is different, we won’t be home for the holidays and I don’t even have an oven to cook a turkey in.
But this morning as I took my 1 ½ hour commute in a taxi home, I read a great blog from Bay Tek games about random acts of kindness and I looked out my window of the taxi and really thought, “Rosie, why are you having a pity party? You have so much to be thankful for. There are so many people around you that are struggling and have it much harder than you. There are about 9.8 million people here in Jakarta. The average monthly wage is about $350 a month, the people here do not have potable water and there are thousands of children and adults living on the street each day.”
We have only been in Jakarta for about six months now. I have always known how blessed we are, but this has been an even bigger eye opener for me. My husband has the opportunity of a lifetime to be the Dean of a new university, my children have grown so much attending a private school and we are getting to see parts of the world that most people couldn’t even imagine. So every day I am thankful for the opportunity to be in Jakarta. I am thankful that we have been so blessed to have a home, clothes, food and water. Thankful that I am surrounded by family and friends who have been so supportive while we have been gone. Thankful that we are from a country that we are given so much opportunity.
I am not a crier, but I tell you, I get so choked up around the holidays. I know it is a stressful time for so many people going from one house to another, and all the cooking, or trying to find that perfect gift. For me, it is all about being thankful for everything that we have and that we have the means to give to others. Since I was in college, I have volunteered and have done what I could do to give back to the community: tutoring inner city children, serving the homeless on Thanksgiving, Habitat for Humanity, visiting children’s hospitals, raising awareness about the Leukemia & Lymphoma society, and I have been even more fortunate to make it part of my career. While with the Isotopes I was able to be involved with and develop programs that gave back our community. At iTZ I implemented “iT’Z For A Good Cause” and we raised thousands of dollars for the Texas Children’s Hospital and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. TrainerTainment has sponsored and participated in events like Ballard vs. The Big C and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
A lot of times, I think we forget to be thankful; that we have one the greatest platforms and are able to give back, maybe not always in the form of money or items, but that we can give someone an experience. Maybe it’s just a day of forgetting all of their problems, to provide them with a day of fun. There are so many ways you can do it. Host a canned food drive, partner up with Meals on Wheels, open your center for a few hours for groups of kids who may not have a happy Thanksgiving or have a Christmas, host an Angel Tree, participate in Toy’s for Tots….I could go on and on. This year, my family and I have chosen to sponsor kids from an orphanage and an organization for kids that live on the streets. I challenge you to take a step back and think about not what we can do for ourselves, but what we can do for others and let’s do what we can to be thankful for everything we have this time of year.
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