Kevin Kantack

I’ve had some terrible luck as of late. It all started with a flat tire. Next my Blazer’s drive shaft decided to come apart. About a week later the new drive shaft somehow went bad again. Apparently the service center I was relying on replaces bad parts with faulty ones. Anyway, they “replaced” it again and needless to say I was slightly annoyed.

It wasn’t long after, when I thought everything was back in order, my engine imploded on my way back from Vermillion. It happened despite doing expensive maintenance to prevent such an occurrence. We towed it to Aberdeen to have the engine replaced. And finally last Wednesday, nearly a month later, I’m heading for Brookings happy to be back on the road. But as luck would have it, that stupid drive shaft, that has been replaced twice, went bad again. “What in the world is going on?” I say to myself (only with more F-words).

At that point I wanted to push that stupid thing in the ditch, douse it with gasoline and “fix” it once and for all.

So I call my dad, again, and after a heated phone call with a then angry man we both calmed down and stopped to think about the situation. We realized we should be glad this is the worst problem we are dealing with. It could be much worse. I sometimes forget just how good I have it. And when I really stop and think about it, the fact I get upset at most things I do is … well … pathetic.

In a world where everything is relative, it is easy to see things in a negative light and quickly adapt a woe-is-me mentality. We often carry with us a materialistic superficiality which causes us to lose touch with what really matters. We have so many great things the rest of the world doesn’t. Unfortunately, our lifestyle often gives us too much time to complain.

Though I’ve come to the point where I’m afraid to start a car in fear it might explode, I realize that I could be living in much worse places, like Iraq, where cars actually do. The minor irritations that plague my rather cushy life are blessings compared to the unspeakable horrors that others are experiencing in the world.

You might hear college kids complain about being young and broke or the elderly complain about how it’s a pain to get old. And there is no doubt that the world is a less than a perfect place. But it is important to count our blessings and not our burdens.

This spring, if things get tough, remember to take time to enjoy the beauty of the world around us. Whether it is the sounds of recently arrived songbirds or an evening sunset, it is crucial that we count the flowers instead of only cursing the weeds.

Though my Chevy Blazer is driving me crazy right now, in a month or two I will probably be laughing about the absurdity of this situation.

Whether I end up laughing or not, I think next time I’ll be buying a Ford.

Kevin Kantack is a junior wildlife and fisheries major.

#1.884938:2931311942.jpg:kevinmug.jpg:Kevin Kantack, Columnist: