Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable. Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless emotions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.” We forget that we are in an era where humans are basically born with an iPhone glued to their hand. The world is in a little device we carry around with us making our lives simpler. It was not too long ago that our mothers, fathers, grandparents and great grandparents were making sacrifices in order to ensure that their children would have a better life, health and stability than they did. We forget to thank our family members for not only guiding us with the little day to day things but also for those things they did in the past when they sacrificed their wants for needs to better their success, to better our lives. From organization, migration, sleep, time, stability, sanity, even their own desires, were altered and shifted to create a new perspective, one we may not even have thought to ask before now.
If human progression was as easy as following a recipe, then everyone would be doing it. As we discover a sense of our family’s history we can become more grateful from day to day knowing that someone else did something selfless to benefit the future for us. For instance, my mother and father used to be firefighters about twenty-one years ago. It all started when my parents met when they were twenty and later decided to join the academy. There was nothing more pleasurable to my mom then working in the fire department as lieutenant working as a paramedic, as well as my father. Many years later, my mom saw one of her co-workers bring his baby girl to work and her heart filled up with a love so powerful she had to create that love for herself. That is when she knew she wanted a baby. So, a couple of months later my mom was pregnant and then I was born. After I was born, she had to sacrifice leaving her dream job for me. Sometimes, we sacrifice what we want right now to save time and energy for something that is more important to us.
To be successful is putting aside our wants from our needs. When we really think about what is important to us, it will become clear as day. It is not wrong to have immediate desires, but we need to separate them from our needs and that will drive our dreams forward just like our families did for us. Take the time to ask and thank your family for the blessings they have bestowed upon you, it will bring you great joy. The qualities that I find within myself are the positive traits I developed and admire from all of the love of my family. Thank you to all of the things that you put aside to make my life better. I am so proud of the woman I am today, but I wouldn’t be where I am without you.