We cry for a pair of new shoes, there are kids out there who unfortunately don’t have a leg..Yet they smile..
We throw tantrums when we don’t get the LATEST of anything and every thing available in the market , while there are kids out there for whom the only definition of latest may be a pair of torn shoes , a torn dress , a broken toy or any shining object he/she manages to pick out of the garbage everyday !
We refuse to accept anything that is second best , all of a sudden when it comes to education we consider it to be a burden and eventually find out hundreds of excuses for avoiding the costly tuition and institution fees our parents are paying for , only and only to end up spending another hundred bucks or even more for watching a movie or spending lavishly on our friends , while there are few lucky kids out there who would do anything to attend a government school , which hardly has proper supply of electricity or desks and chairs as a matter of fact ? and yet another millions of unlucky kids who still dream of going to school because their poor parents cant afford it ?
When we aren’t allowed to attend a birthday party , denied to stay out for late night hours by our dad , or when our mother after working all day long asks us to have our food , their care starts to irritate us and we thank them by shouting at them and thinking to ourselves that they are the WORST PARENTS anyone can get , while there are kids out there who don’t even know what exactly the feeling of having a mom and a dad is like ! They would die to feel the embrace of their mom and would love to abide by their dad’s strict rules and discipline..
Yet , instead of the miseries and the constant darkness that surround their life , they are blissfully happy..They never complain or never whin over the things they don’t have..and probably will never have..Instead they smile..They don’t know what an Ipod or an Ipad is , leave that aside , most of them don’t know what a television looks like..But yet they are happy and contented..for most of these kids the best moment of their life is when their mother cooks some delicious food for them .No , for them delicious doesn’t necessarily mean butter chicken or anything of that league ? they probably don’t even know what it tastes like , for them delicious means chapattis and salt ? or chapattis and a simply watery dal , yet unlike us they happily consume their meal without complaining about the gross taste of the food..Most of shout at our mom for cooking the same food daily , don’t we ? Ask a kid who sleeps without a morsel of food for many a nights ! Or ask a kid who has never known what his mother looks like and how the food she cooks tastes..When our dad refuses to pay for the latest dress, we cry, they satisfy themselves with the torn and old clothes we give them , yet they smile “this is better than the last one , this is beautiful , ohh how lucky I am” they think..and when our parents buy us a dress which Is probably less expensive , instead of thanking them , the only reply we come up with is “Mom dad , u’re old fashioned..you could have brought the one which had the latest design..this print doesn’t suit me..You really need to catch up with the latest trend..” that’s it , we don’t even care to thank them ! Yet the immediately and happily get ready the next time we ask them to pay for another dress , another gadget , anything and everything just to bring that smile on our face..and we ? well we all know what we do !
When I visited a government school and an orphanage today I realized , how these kids have every reason to hate their life , and how we have every thing that they dream about , yet they are blissfully happy and we are hopelessly sad ! The more we get , the more we forget about the small things that we should treasure , and the less they have , the more they treasure it.My eyes were watery after I saw the excitement on their face when an NGO donated a second hand computer to their orphanage.I couldn’t help but smile when the kids hugged me when I gave them a biscuit and a chocolate..Today I realized , our life is wonderfully full of blessings , no matter how small they are ! We take most of the things for granted..Too often we don’t value the things we have..when u look at these kids you realize how they have every reason to hate their yet they are smiling instead of having grief’s like worms gnawing at their existence ! We need deliberately to call to mind the joys of our journey. Perhaps we should try to write down the blessings of one day. We might begin; we could never end; there are not pens or paper enough in all the world.
Well now I guess enough has been said , I would leave you with this quote :-
Count your blessings and your problems….If your problems outnumber your blessings, Count Again….
Chances are the things that you take for granted were not added up…
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