Window to the World

I’ve been writing Monday Messages for over 10 years now and I always try to relate them to current events. So when Father’s Day rolls around, it’s been my habit to try to write something related to my Dad. It’s been easy so far to come up with stories because my Dad was such a huge part of my life. He was always teaching me and inspiring me to be and to do my best. But after 10 years and of stories, I struggled to think of something new this year that I haven’t written about before. And then it hit me… right between the eyes!

It has been said that our eyes are the window to our soul. But my Dad also taught me that, “Looking out, your eyes are your window to the world.” The way we see the world has a tremendous effect on how we feel, think and act. If we see the world and the people in it as harsh and cruel, it’s easy to become bitter and discouraged. But if we look with our eyes and see the beauty and compassion that constantly surrounds us, we can instantly feel happy and encouraged.

Here’s an example. Yesterday (for Father’s Day) a friend of mine took his wife and three young boys to Angel Stadium to catch a baseball game together. Halfway through the game his wife went for pizza and on the way back she tripped and fell down the steep concrete steps. She tore up her shins and scraped her knees and sent the pizza flying. She was bleeding and needed first aid, so immediately several people jumped up to help her. One person even went to the food court and brought her and her family back a replacement pizza. It would be easy to look at the crowd in the baseball stadium and see a loud, obnoxious, beer drinking, bunch of hooligans. But if we were to really look close, through our “window to the world”, we would see compassionate, caring souls who are quick to offer help and generous beyond measure.

I know the world is filled with problems and that there are plenty of bad people out there. But thanks to my Dad and his awesome advice, I choose to use my eyes to focus on the good that I can see. And although I have to break out the Windex and clean my “window” once in a while, I can always find something good to focus on. Thanks Dad, for teaching me to use my senses… to make some sense out of this world!

Father's Day crowd at Angel Stadium

See everything, overlook a great deal.

~ Pope John XXIII