A Metaphor

I have a friend who told someone who was struggling with infertility, "children aren't that big of a deal!"

When I heard her say that, I imagined what it must have been like for her infertile friend to hear that.

Here is what I came up with:


Two friends are sitting across the table with a bowl of ice cream in the middle of the table.
One friend has eaten ice cream every day for 40 days.
One friend has fasted for 40 days, having had nothing to eat.
Do you think, perhaps, that their experience of ice cream might be  entirely different?
One will not even notice the ice cream.
The other one, will not only "notice" the ice cream and be tormented by it's presence.
How do you think the one who has been fasting would feel when the other friend says, "ice cream is no big deal!"? (having children is not that big of a deal - having a good marriage is hard work - money isn't everything etc)

Those of us who have children, good incomes, good marriages etc. can afford to be nonchalant.
We have our cups full. But if our cups weren't full, we might not be so casual about those things that others continually ache over.