IN THE HOT SEAT (By Robert Chapman)

Our server has gone down up here at work, so I decided I would utilize my time and write a little blurb, if you will.

Often times, we refer to people who have bountiful blessings spoiled while we ourselves are spoiled in our own sort of ways. Now, don’t get me wrong, I think that Paris Hilton should spend at least 6 months in jail and should not be allowed to see anyone with the same last name or anyone holding a camera. She, in my opinion, is extrodinarily spoiled. But, this goes back to the point I was about to make.

Isn’t the idea of being spoiled along the same line that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder?” Everything, other than cold hard facts (and even some facts), is relative: beauty, cruelty and even the idea of being spoiled.

If we were to ask our grandparents what they did during the hot Mississippi summers, they would say they drank tea, worked out side, sat in the shade of a large oak or magnolia and treked through the hot summer with rags in hand to wipe off the sweat from their forheads.

Now, here’s what I’m wondering: are we spoiled because we have grown up with AC, and when it suddenly doesn’t work, we fight tooth and nail. Is the fact that we get so upset because we are spoiled, or is it because the invention and convenience of air conditioning has truly improved the quality of life.

Around March, my AC went out in my car. At that point, it wasn’t so bad – I could just role the windows down. When May got here, I started my job, and the heat was turned up. So, now I’m suffering in my own personal sauna to and from work (and everywhere else I go). I’m getting it fixed soon, and I keep telling myself, it will be even sweeter when it is fixed because I will remember how hot and miserable it was.

Maybe this idea of being spoiled and everything being relative is to teach me a larger lesson. It’s like the old saying, “Remember where you come from.” If we remember the miserable things in life, then maybe we won’t take the convenient modernities for granted. Whether it is the new gas stovetop in your house that could be a wood furnace or the computer that might run a little slow that could be a pen-and-pad, remember that we are blessed.

Now, enjoy your air conditioned car and think about me when you’re driving in the 98 degree heat and you say, “Honey, turn the AC down a bit, it’s kinda cold.”