The French journalist and novelist, Alphonse Karr, stated, "Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses." 

Thank goodness for things that bug us

Dad, this one is for you and the entire family. We suppose it’s human nature to bellyache about the things that annoy us.

It’s probably not quite as automatic for us to consider the upside to some of those annoyances. Thank goodness for those traffic lights, even though they always seem to turn red when I’m approaching and am in a hurry. Hooray for that alarm clock, even though it goes off much too soon in the morning.

How grateful I am for finally going to the doctor to check out that nagging pain in my chest. Ouch, those medical bills! But where would I be without them? Or … would I be at all? 

How blessed we are

We interrupt this program for this special news bulletin: An earthquake has claimed 600 lives in Nepal.

Violence erupted today at a religious festival. An angry mob pulled an official of an opposing faction from his stalled car and beat him to death.

A huge fire broke out today in a block of tenement houses on the city’s east side. People reported seeing parents throwing their small children from two-and three-story windows to friends below, then jumping out after them. The death toll is mounting, and arson is suspected.

A police dragnet has resulted in the arrest of 21 young women, suspected of prostitution, on the south side of the city. Both males and females between the ages of 13 and 26 were apprehended.

Authorities found two children living completely on their own for nearly a year, surviving on garbage scraps and what they could steal from neighborhood stores and restaurants. 

A young wife and mother, after numerous beatings by her husband, killed him with a shotgun at point-blank range as he lay in a drunken stupor.

We know all the headlines.

Those above are taken from actual incidents.

So, Dad, how do you use these grisly facts to pass on useful food for thought to your kids? Try this. It’s not that you and I don’t have a right to complain.

It’s just that there are people in this world—in this country and in your town—who have nothing to complain about.

Matter of fact, they have absolutely nothing at all.