eh.

I really have nothing to say today, but in true journalistic fashion, I'll find something to babble about just for the heck of it.

Great D.C.-area sighting o' the morning: The guy waiting for his specialized coffee drink at the Starbucks counter. Atop his Segway.

Profound thought o' the day: I guess I'm still stuck in the Seussian "pondering how lucky I am" groove. However, I am dirtying the sanctity of it somewhat by sort of using it to bash others who apparently aren't as enlightened at the moment as I am. For instance: my coworker who insists on whining when she gets handed a bit more work. I want to shout at her, "YOU WORK IN NEWSPAPERS! YOU HAVE A WEEKDAY JOB! AND WHEN YOU GET OFF WORK, YOU CAN GO HOME, POUR YOUR NIGHTLY BOTTLE OF WINE, AND CURL UP NEXT TO YOUR CAT AND WATCH YOUR NIGHTLY DOSE OF TV! Honestly, what do you have to whine about?!" The very same coworker who can't seem to make it into the office before 10:35. And who complains because she's alone and single, yet who doesn't have the 'energy' to meet up with any of her Match.com suitors on any given evening. Or to make it into the office the next day, if she managed to find the energy.

As I type, I realize that what I'm really doing here is venting -- and blasting others -- under the guise of being "grateful." Yet this is where I am today. I guess if I can't be honest here, I shouldn't bother.

Making it all the worse, I know these are the people who, in the given moment, are weaker than I -- the ones I need to hold up in prayer, and encourage. Despite the whininess. I guess the needy ones are the ones who, um, need my help. It's really hard, though, to muster the grace and mercy to help those who seem so ... ungrateful for what they do have. I would kill to read about traveling in Europe all day, which is this woman's job. Mine is only slightly less enviable, to be honest, so I guess there's no killin' necessary right now. But you probably get my point. It seems like, the better off we have it, the less we realize it.

I read that a recent study found that, once people's basic needs were met (food, shelter, etc.), people's rising income levels did not equate to rising happiness. Funny when Jesus' words turn out to be true. I keep thinking about all the sermons I've heard in which it is pointed out that, globally, we ARE the rich people. Yet are we happiest? HA.

The collective household "we" received a three-page diatribe yesterday about how we are not grateful enough to a certain family member. A certain family member who is completely dependent on our goodwill, and, because of said family member's lack of ability to save money or spend wisely, will probably be dependent on our future resources. Perhaps I'm transferring my somewhat-taboo anger toward said extended family member to my coworker, whose issues seem less insane, but similar. I'll have to ponder that one.

As I'm gleefully relaying coworker's issues to M. this morning during our commute, my daughter is singing and bopping along to the Veggie Tales. A song called "Stop and Go with Mercy." I did have the insight to see the incongruity here -- God speaking through my 2-year-old -- but not even the maturity to have moved on by the time I get to work. Argh. God, help me to be more gracious and merciful. As You have been to me.