Comfortable

Smack dab in the middle of Quito, Ecuador, there is a small hill, and on top of that hill, there is a not so small statue of The Virgin of Quito. 

She faces the North side of Quito - the good side, the rich side, the nicer side of this divided city. And she extends her right hand over that sector of the city, almost as if to give it her blessing. From the South, however, all you see is the Virgin’s back. There is no right hand. No blessing. No nothing.

The Virgin of Quito from the North.

In Northern Quito, you don’t pay attention to the poor. You pay tribute to the powerful. 

Here, money is God and comfort is supreme. 

And unfortunately, Northern Quito and Sito Sasieta have something in common - I really like to be comfortable too. Bruno Mars sings “the lazy song,” and I sing right along with him. Kanye West  “welcomes me to the good life,” and I walk right in. 

It's foolish.

I’ve been too comfortable. And if Northern Quito is comfortable at the expense of Southern Quito, who or what is at the expense of my cushy life?

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According to a survey done by ex-NFL lineman, Joe Erhmann, there are three particular things that the elderly regret not doing, things they wish they had done but never did.

1: Not leaving a legacy

2: Not taking time for reflection

3: Not taking more risks

Ladies and gentlemen, 90 year-olds are begging for you to take more risks! The elderly don’t wish they had a safer, easier life where they spent more time watching The Wizard of Oz with a bag of potato chips. Just the opposite, they said life was too comfortable. 

Just consider the people that we look up to. Martin Luther King Jr. was thrown in jail for insisting on justice. Mother Teresa lived in dirty slums and insisted on feeding the poor. Simon Peter got crucified upside down for insisting on following Christ.

Mother Teresa wasn't concerned about pedicures or Nike sneakers.

Clearly they didn’t get the memo. Misunderstood, they marched on. Persecuted, they pressed on. Hated, they held nothing back. And even though they weren’t comfortable, they are some of the most optimistic, joyful people we have ever known. 

No regret here.

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A 6th grade teacher once told his students, “All around you, people will be tiptoeing through life, just to arrive at death safely. But dear children, do not tiptoe. Run, hop, skip, or dance, just don't tiptoe.”

The quote makes me chuckle because it is so true. I’ve done so much tiptoeing and not enough dancing. I’ve been busy doing "service hours" without serving people. It's time to wake up before I'm 90 and writing my own list of regrets. 

I’ll probably never leave a legacy like Martin Luther King Jr. or be as selfless as Mother Teresa or be as bold as Simon Peter, and that's okay.

The point is to be bold and selfless today. The point is to reflect now. The point is that I have a life in front of me, and I'm ready to live it.

So join me. I'm ready to see Southern Quito.