Some People Make Others THINK
When was the last time we thanked God for what we are having rather than cursing him for not giving what we expected?. It’s human nature to yearn for something that is not with us rather than being happy with what we have. Recently I read in a website that everyday our immune system kills numerous number of defective cell which could have been evolved into cancer if it had lived, yet we don’t give a damn to our body. We give a foolish reason that it’s doing its job, in a way right; but what if the job wasn’t functioned properly? In our busy lives we consider many things trivial but we should be aware that many trivial things sum up together to make our life complete.
Adding some gratitude to our attitude
The incident I am going to narrate happened to me just a few months back. It had a cleansing effect on me.I learnt one of the important lessons of life – it was a day of reformation. But after this incident I have not totally become Buddha but I have started see many changes in and around me. After This incident day by day my things to feel grateful for are on the increase. I suppose everyone must also try it.
It was 8.00 pm in the night. The darkness of the night has fully spread and the moon was little dull, the bustling of streets had just started lowering and wind has started blowing slowly like a zephyr making a light euphony in the air. I and my friends started walking to our regular mess for our dinner located at a walk able distance from our room(we are four working bachelors). while walking we noticed many doors on the streets were closed and different smells of dishes like chapthis, sambars were coming from the houses, instilling us the nostalgic memories of ours sweet homes and sweetest moms. During the walk, we usually used to gossip about some casual stuff. On that very particular day everyone was complaining about something or the other, say, one of my friends told that he doesn’t like the way his physical appearance is and wanted to hit the gym for a better appearance. My another friend told that he was not happy with his department as his superiors are very odd to work with , while the other guy told he does not like his current job as the work is more physically demanding and wished for more and lucrative IT company job.
Like this the chat went on and we reached our hotel, the hotel was not a high end or a posh one, it was a pretty decent mess with all basic amenities. we all made ourselves comfortable and placed our orders to the server in the Coimbatore style ”anna rendu dosai”. As we were waiting for our orders to arrive we heard a loud laughter from the table adjacent to ours. So our attention turned towards that table and we were all startled by seeing that table. The table was occupied by four people, out of which one guy was formally dressed (I suppose he came directly from office or College) while others were in their casuals. We were not amazed by the persons sitting in the table but by the way in which they were communicating. They were communicating through gestures!.The people in the table were deaf and dumb and they were half done with dinner. The waiter came to their table and asked for their orders, they showed signs in the way the waiter could understand for example they showed round symbol if they wanted dosa. I also came to know that they were regular customers to the mess.
We were moved, not little but massively. There was pin drop silence in our table plus we were constantly gazing at their table. These guys were laughing, smiling, teasing each other in their own gesture language and making us a like mere witnesses of a fun show. All I could see in their table was fun & frolic. One of my friend broke the ice. He said see them they are happy with what they have even if they are differently abled but we keep complaining for what we dont have. These guys finished off & started leaving, they paid their bills and left the hotel. Our eye balls were following them till they were lost in the darkness. On that single day alone our table was little different, we remained at pin drop silence as everyone was feeling sorry for those guys and getting inspiration from them by reconsidering what they had said before including me.
It was moral blow to my general mindset. Earlier I had a view (the common view everyone has) disabled persons would be of low self esteem and would be hesitant to come out of their houses. But my mindset was totally effaced and I was rewriting it as “That even disabled people have lives and hearts like us. We may think we are superior than them but they are far superior by being happy with what they have. They lead a happier life than normal human beings because they don’t complain for what they do not have, they show their gratitude to god”. Our dinner was over, we paid our bills and we were walking back. The surprising thing was everyone was still in shock and has not still recovered from it; we spoke a little till we reached our room.
And i think Quoting Hellen Keller would be very apt
“I thank God for my handicaps, for, through them, I have found myself, my work, and my God.”
Helen killer accomplished many things in her life time that normal homosapiens couldn’t even think off. She spoke against the government when normal person backed off.
Change Ahead
From that day I made a decision that I should stop complaining and start basking life. I haven’t changed completely from that day but I have noticed that my complaining attitude has reduced appreciably and one more thing is if I again see those guys I want to say ( hope they will understand what I say) “hey guys you are doing great job and continue to inspire others”. And finally I think that everyone should be grateful to God and practice getting delighted with life and not getting annoyed with life.
~ Arul
@ LiveWire 