The Forgotten: Under appreciation and Judgment

The Forgotten 

There are people in our lives who we go under appreciated and we might not ever notice when they are there but we will sure notice when they are not. 

I maybe have said this before but I truly think that the episode I watched this week of Girl Meets World clearly portrays the value of the show beyond comedic purposes. I always find it interesting and one of the strengths of the show the fact the Riley’s dad uses historical events to teach his students life values and lessons. In this case he talks about the forgotten. For those not aware when the Great Depression hit the United States in 1929 many people lost their jobs, their security, their piece of mind and became lost. These people became known as the forgotten: working class people, the heart and soul of the country basically taken for granted in the first place, discarded and forgotten.

Riley and Maya go on from the class to the cafeteria and get served lunch and like typically television shows the food is just horrible. They comment on it to the cafeteria lady and say they don’t want the food but she serves them anyway. Lucas and Farkle don’t eat the food but use it to make a volcano out of the mashed potatoes, Maya and Riley instead of eating the food use it to ignite the volcano and make a mess and comment how cafeteria work is the worst elective because it is so messy, easy, boring and just useless from their perspective. Once the bell rings they all are about to leave the cafeteria when Riley’s dad sits them down and tells them if they are going to clean up the mess they made or eat the food they have in their plate but they say no. So Riley’s dad assigns them their work electives: Riley and Maya to the cafeteria and Lucas and Farkle janitor services.

It only takes Riley and Maya a day, well an hour of work to fall exhausted in their couch. When their mother comes home she asks for help with the groceries but all they can say is that they have had a hard day at work and they can’t help her. For Maya and Riley work at the cafeteria is just a class but for the cafeteria lady, Geralyn, it’s a big part of her life. She knows the orders of every kid in the school. She knows that Riley loves fish sticks and gives extra, gives Maya extra food to take home, knows the Lucas likes his vegetables so gives him that instead of mashed potato. When they prepare the food it gives a group of kids stomach aches and they throw up. Geralyn knows that she can’t spice the food up because she has to make the best food for all the kids. Riley and Maya at lunch time served the kids and they said to the cafeteria lady that no one said thank you or smiled or knew their name and they go to class with them.  

We may not be we are but the forgotten are in our lives just like the cafeteria lady in the lives of the students. There are these people who we may see as a small part of our lives or not even consider sometimes but to them we may be a big part of their world and not even know it. We go to the store and just do our transactions at the register and never look back, grab our cup of coffee from the counter and never say thank you, pay our taxi fare and get off. We are all guilty of it. I am not saying that we have to build a personal relationship with everyone we meet but when it comes to these things like getting served food at a restaurant, paying at the check out, getting into a bus a smile and a thank you is enough. Enough to say that we notice their existence, we see their work, enough to make them not feel taken for granted even if they are not necessarily looking for that.

Lucas and Farkle’s work experience shows us that the hallways we walk through in any building we may never see them as anything but clean but we never really think about the people who’s job it is to maintain it that way. We don’t notice when they are there but we sure will notice if they weren’t. So when you throw away bottles, wrappers in the trash and miss, pick them up and put them in garbage it is the right thing to do. If you are at school maybe sometime get to remember the names of the cafeteria workers, the cleaners, the teachers. Get to know their lives.  

This under appreciation is not only confined to the people we have interactions with but don’t know personally, it happens in our close group of relationships with people that we see and interact with everyday, people that shouldn’t go under appreciated our friends and family. Sometimes we don’t really begin to consider the amount of work that our parents or the people around us go through to make our lives the best way they can. Maya and Riley couldn’t take a moment out of their lives to help their mother with the groceries. They only worked for one hour but her mother and her dad have to balance work and taking care of their three children as well as their friends who are always at the house. We get up in the morning and they are already up; we go to sleep and they are already up; there is food on the table; they take us to were we need to go; they have jobs and still take care of us in the best way they can. There are friends in our lives who we go to when we need advice about work, life, relationships and they can be very helpful but when they need our help we may never be around or show them the interest they had for us. There are people we hang out with, share laughs and stories but who we don’t consider when we make plans but when they plan for something they always have us in mind. This has happened to me and surely it has happened to all of you reading this and we have all done it to someone else. I met some of the greatest people and good friends when playing at a football camp in Ecuador. I could always rely on my team mates but never took to account the work they did and how much they sacrificed their roles in order to back me up and cover my flaws and risk taking until I move on and played with another team. It is just a simple example but it makes the point come across. I think that from time to time we must tell them, our friends and family, that we care for them, that we love them, that we appreciate what they bring to our lives. Take some time to say hi to that classmate who always has your back but you don't talk to that often, to that kid who looks up to you when you help with middle schoolers, to that coworker who helps you solve your mistakes. 

The forgotten, people we take for granted, were so because people considered them less and didn’t know the hard work they put in. Whatever we end up doing we must do it with the same pride and enthusiasm as the cafeteria lady and the janitor of the episode. We must not judge people without getting to know them and living their stories because we may never never appreciate how much effort they put into things or the problems they encounter; in many cases it may bigger than our own. We can try, we can make time to get to know to someone or as I said before acknowledge that they are there with a thank you, a hello and a smile.

A Special thank you: There simply isn't enough space or time to list all the people that have entered my life. I met so many great people that helped me become who I am today and while we may not talk anymore or that often I will always remember you all for what you brought into my life. I try to never make anyone in my life a forgotten. If you are reading this I want to say to you thank you for being there when you were and for continuing to be there now. To those not reading this i wish you the same. It is true that people come and go in our lives but through writing Living History and this pieces well it made me realise that it doesn't mean we must forget them because who knows when they might enter our lives again or the positive impact they had in our growing up or the impact we had on them for that matter. So to all the people I have met i want to say thank you and I wish you all the best and anything that you set yourself to do.

Un gracias especial: Simplemente no hay suficiente espacio o tiempo para nombrar todas las personas que han entrado en mi vida . Conocí a tanta gente maravillosa que me ayudó a ser la persona que soy ahora y aunque no podamos hablar más o a menudo siempre me acordare de todos por lo que trajeron a mi vida . Trato de no hacer cualquier persona en mi vida se hunda en el olvido. Si usted está leyendo esto quiero decirle gracias por estar allí cuando estaba y por seguir estando ahi. Para aquellos que no están leyendo esto les deseo lo mismo. Es cierto que las personas van y vienen en nuestras vidas, pero a través de mi pieza Living History y esta, me hicieron dar cuenta de que esto no significa que debemos olvidarlos porque quién sabe cuándo podrían entrar en nuestras vidas de nuevo o el impacto positivo que han tenido en nuestro crecimiento o el impacto de nosotros sobre ellos. Así que para todas las personas que he conocido quiero decir gracias y les deseo lo mejor todo lo que desean hacer.