Have a hat full

I was reading the morning headlines, something I do right after reading the comics, and saw that North Korea has its own software for its computers - sort of like Windows 7 except with a communist twist and probably technologically closer to earlier versions of DOS.

Anyway, it got me thinking.  How can an entire nation live, voluntarily, in poverty and fear?  The people of North Korea can just about peek over a fence and see the promised land.  I think there are two reasons they don't peek.  First of all, I think they shoot people that peek.  Secondly, and I am just guessing here, having wealth and being happy are not the same thing.

They can wake up with their families and that is enough.  I know it would be enough for me.  Everything else is like the sprinkles on a cake; nice but not mandatory for me to enjoy the cake.

I actually like the fact that they are not rising up against their regime.  It means that they found contentment within.  Or at least, it's not so bad that they would risk it all to overthrow.  In the United States, we have television people that want to overthrow the government simply because it improves ratings on their shows and they make more money.

Now, I may sound critical but actually, I am celebrating.  I am glad that people watch and read the same things I do and reach different conclusions.  If we were all the same, I think I would be either really, really bored - or maybe really, really scared.

There are Muslims that kill because they think they are right.  Within the last week, a family of Christians was apprehended because they wanted to kill - because they thought they were right.  Also, a man was sentenced to jail for killing an abortion doctor, thinking he was right.

I hear that there are universal truths - things that are clearly right and clearly wrong.  I wonder if this is actually the case.  There is a lot of evidence to the contrary.  People think Glen Beck is the best thing on television.  I think he should be in jail.  Who is right?  Both?  Neither?

In Hungary, it is considered rude to "sniff in" if your nose is running.  In public, it is better to break wind with gusto than sniff.  When I go there I always take a lot of tissue to blow rather than sniff.

It's just different.

Men are different from women.  Dogs are different from cats.  Cold is different from hot and I am different than you.

So, as I near the end of my babbling, you may be thinking, "What about the title of today's blog?"

Here is the answer.  In the United States, when someone is getting ready to perform, we often say, "Break a leg."  Think about it.  How can such a phrase be meant as encouragement.

In Hungary, instead of "Break a leg."  They say, "Have a hat full."  This is short of the encouraging complete phrase which is, "Have a hat full of shit."

God Bless the differences - everywhere.

Try http://worldgratitudelist.com   Leave a list.  Read a list.  Be happy.

j