We are all willing to sacrifice if the reason for sacrifice is meaningful to us. For example, my husband and I sacrificed quite a few nights of fun and entertainment with friends when our children were in high school. I simply didn't want to be too far from home during those years as I knew what can happen when energetic teens have little supervision. Safety was a meaningful reason for sacrifice for me. We also sacrificed in order to send our children to college--both my husband and I had very positive college experiences and we wanted the same for our children. Plus, for both of us, those college degrees helped us to land good jobs and develop positive careers. That was a meaningful reason for sacrifice, and the sacrifice was not near the depth or struggle that some have to sacrifice to simply stay alive or keep their loved ones alive and living well.
Sacrifice, when well directed and meaningful, is a positive aspect of life. Sometimes, however, the sacrifices we may be called to make are too great and pull us away from what's most important to us today and into the future. For example, some jobs demand too much of their employees, and that too-great demand impacts individuals' home lives, relationships, and health. Currently, in our country, the President and his team are forcing many vulnerable people to sacrifice essentials to simply stay afloat while they are rewarding ultra-wealthy folks who may not even know what it means to sacrifice at all. It's truly a crime.
Reasonable sacrifice, or perhaps, unreasonable sacrifice for a deep and meaningful cause is part of life, but when the sacrifice we're asked or prompted to make is too great, we have to find ways to speak up and make peaceful change. The more we give into unreasonable sacrifice, the more we will be placed in that difficult and dangerous situation. Once again, this is an area in life, where we have to strike the right balance for who we are and what we do. Onward.
