Longing for Home

I have this very nice courier fellow that delivers packages for one of the top delivery companies. He was a little hard to warm up to; he was foreign...I forget what country and it doesn't matter anyway. He was somewhat hard to understand; I think that was why he didn't talk much.

But being the yacker I am I didn't give up on him...and as he saw that I didn't care that he had somewhat a hard time speaking this "great" American language, he slowly openend up and we began to know each other.

One day in our chatting somehow the conversation lead back to before he came to America. He said things in my country are so different than in America. My parents earned a living, nothing big but a living. My father would go to work every morning and be home by 3:00 in the afternoon. He and my mother would have a drink and then go out together. We kids would stay home and do what we were supposed to do. Then my parents would return home and the family would be together. We all had time to do things together. It was nice.

But now...I come to America to get the dream. I want to make money and have everything! The great American dream. I want to have money so I can have everything he said as he was grabbing with his hands. But no...not so. Everyone is so money hungry here. Work all the time. No time for each other. We really have nothing. Shaking his head he said...so sad.

I could really see in his whole body what he was feeling. He missed what he had grown up with. While he was probably making much more money than what his father had back in his homeland...he was wondering if the trade-off was really worth it. He said it is just so different here. There isn't real happiness. Even though we had less than what I have here...there was happiness. I think I know what he was meaning.

You might have needed to be here to fully understand. I often think of what I think he was trying to say. It is just one of those things that is very hard to put into words. It's more of a feeling. Wanting more than what you can hold in your hands. More than something others can see you have. Something that lives inside you...and makes you feel warm and cozy inside.

Running in search of...That is sort of what we do now, isn't it? We are running in search of what is missing. We have no dreams. You know...dreams are a good thing!! But we rarely have them anymore. We go and fulfill everyone of our dreams. Want a new car? Go trade in the perfectly good one you have for a newer nicer-looking one. Want to move...go do it...no problem. Want a new dress or whatever...like we don't have more clothes to wear than we will ever need! Do you get my point? We are searching for our real happiness...but perhaps we are looking in all the wrong places. I am sure it is something I want to think about.

.......My delivery person was back in the other day and I told him I had been thinking about our conversation. He looked at me and shook his head. He said...I miss it. Thought things would be different.

I felt sad...not only for him...........

My thought for today.