LIFE IS WHAT HAPPENS –  

LIFE IS WHAT HAPPENS –  

In his song Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy), John Lennon states:

“Life is what happens to you
While you’re busy making other plans”

There is an old Yiddish adage, “Man Plans, and God Laughs.”

These two things are true and should be taught to everyone as early as possible. The truth is that things don’t always go your way. That’s just the way it is. So many people are coddled when they are young and as they move through their teens. When they hit their 20’s and life really gets tough because they have to start taking care of themselves 100% of the time, they don’t know how to handle it. They rebel, fight, get angry, lash out, and act like a child in their “terrible 2’s” who isn’t getting their way.

All parents want their children to “have it easier” than they did. That is a normal feeling. However, this has gone on for so many generations that we now have a generation that believes that they are owed everything and they do not have to work for anything. They have an excessive sense of entitlement.

My 30-something year old children were taught that they had to work for things. Yes, we gave them more than we ever imagined getting, but we also taught them that we – and the world – weren’t going to just give them things because they wanted it or asked for it nicely. It wasn’t easy because most of their friends were handed whatever they asked for. We were the “mean” parents. That’s okay with me because all of my children are hard workers. One thanked me for teaching them how to work hard for what they want.

Along with teaching them that you have to work for what you want and that not much will be handed to you, we also tried to teach them that no one’s life is perfect. Everyone has problems, things that don’t go the way they wanted, heartaches, and rough times. No one gets through life unscathed.

My thoughts keep going back to how boring it would be if life was always easy. How can you possibly enjoy the good times if you don’t have bad times? You certainly wouldn’t be grateful for the good times if you didn’t experience the bad ones.