"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us"

Life is full of discouragement...disappointment, sadness, hurt, sorrow. All of which, has the potential to take you down a dangerous and dark path. It depends on if you're going to let it break you or let it make you stronger. Many times we feel like Alice, lost in Wonderland. Our path is now gone, the path that we wanted to take, either to a certain job, or college, or relationship. We are disappointed that we didn't get that job, or didn't make into a school program. Although, "it doesn't matter what path you take if you don't know where you are going." Be careful of the dangerous of disappointment and it's effects on the human thinking process, resulting in poor choices and can lead to dark and depressing paths. I love the Count of Monte Cristo, he explains that life is a storm and one can choose to stand up against the storm. Or lie down and let it consume you into the waters of the deep.

"Life is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes. You must look into that storm and shout as you did in Rome. Do your worst, for I will do mine! Then the fates will know you as we know you: as Albert Mondego, the man!"

It's rough in a world that places a person's value on their career, it's especially rough when you're shocked to find you are suddenly jobless. I suppose that my story is typical, company is bought out, new company changes everything, new company lays off individuals. It was quite a surreal experience to say the least. An experience that is very unnerving, it threatens your way of life, and you take a critical hit to you self-esteem. But in time the dust seems to settle and you can see the path. And an amazing thing happens, you end up in a place where you never thought you would be. In retrospect, I am truly grateful. I am grateful to be in school, grateful for programs that will enhances my skill set, grateful for amazing individuals I have meet along the way. Grateful for financial aid and a job at the library. And most grateful that I have been taught not to place my value in something that can be taken away. My value is not in my job or my car or some object. Through this experience I was taken on a journey to remember who I am, and what I believe. Where my worth and value truly lie, and it's not in status, money, beauty, possession...But purely who I am, what I believe and my character.

It is also tough when you have a friend that has experienced a lot of disappointment. Your heart goes out to them, sometimes the words of comfort don't come. Sometimes they don't want to hear what you have to say. My heart goes out of to one of my dear friends, who has experience so much discouragement over the summer and has let it bring him down. He is settling in life, settling in a job, in a girl. I think as an attempt to feel happier. And you try and tell them, try and help, but you end up being the crazy one, that "doesn't understand the situation", you are the one accused of saying hurtful things. This is the price paid. A friendship sacrificed in an attempt to save someone you care about from greater hurt and pain. Let me tell you, it's hard. But, I would hope that someone would be that brave and willing to say what I needed to hear with the risk that I would not be their friend anymore. And yet, your heart still hurts, you have lost a best friend, someone who valued and trusted your opinion. A person that could tell you what's up even if sucked to hear it. The person that kept our level and down to earth. "A friend can tell you things you don't want to tell yourself."-Frances Ward Weller

Treasure those friends, they are hard to come by.

"It’s an insane world but in it there is one sanity, the loyalty of old friends."
-Ben-Hur

"Only a true friend would be that truly honest." -Sherk