The world is your oyster...

The neighborhood that I grew up in was in a word, charming. I lived in the white two story with the red door. Across the street and over one house was my friend Michelle, and five houses up the street lived my friend Chuck. They each had siblings the ages of my brother John. Our parents were all friends, wait... still are friends. In summers we'd play until it was too dark to see one another. And in winter we'd pummel each other with snowballs until we could no longer feel our fingers. Every year on the first day of school we'd gather outside and take pictures together... followed by the pictures of all of our new shoes pointing together in a circle. I learned early about community. I grew up raised by not just any ordinary village but one that taught me I can do anything I want.
My closest friends are people I met while growing up on that street... even to this day. Among them is a pharmacist, an architect, a firefighter, a law student, a med student, a nanny, a dancer, and one studying to be a teacher. What I am getting at is that we were always reminded by our village, our community, that we could do anything we wanted with our lives. And we have... we have followed dreams until they've become reality. Then we kept dreaming.
The world may be my oyster, but lately I have worried that my sense of entitlement has become narcissistic. Ok... now not necessarily like I feel that the world revolves around me. But you know what its like when you leave a job, school, community, and you sometimes expect that everything will either stay exactly the same... or at least fall apart a little bit with out you... but definitely not move forward without you. Well, that's sort of what I am talking about. What worries me even more is that it is not very often that people have to remind me that my life is making a difference... I think I know that... what worries me is the people who don't know that about themselves.
You may not know one of these people personally, but I am sure you have met one before. They are the people who did not have that village, that community... not even one person telling them that they can do anything that they want to. There is tragedy in this. Who are these people who don't know that they truly can do anything. They can follow dreams. And when they don't know that... do they just stop dreaming?
We are all children of God... we are entitled to life, love, even the pursuit of happyness. We... all of us. Yeah that means you... that means your neighbor... that means your enemy. If I wake up one morning and look back at whatever accomplishments I have... whatever degrees or publications or loves won... but I can't say that I have shared God's love... have I really accomplished anything at all? My narcissism goes out the window when I think about sharing God's love, because who am I to be entitled to that? I don't deserve it. But that's the thing about it... my neighbor, my enemy, even me... we are loved by God because of what God has done, not our accomplishments. No one is entitled to it... its a gift.