Thursday, August 5, 2010

Gratefullness !

The single most forgotten sentence ever, in history of everyone's life, would certainly be the word "Thank you". How many times we forget to thank our dear ones for so many of the things we do have to thank them for. Being grateful is a virtue on its own, you would have to let go of the "I deserve that treatment" attitude and feel more of the "Thats grace, so many people dont get this" attitude.

Come to think of it, we take our relationships for granted. Thomas Carlyle, an author of 18th century, did this mistake. He married his romantic interest and never really cared for her. His wife Jane, took ill and being an authour herself started writing a diary about her illness and her eagerness for a few visits from her husband. Thomas Carlyle rarely attended to her during her illness, but in the diary , those small , quick, flying visits were recorded as being the best moments of her dying self. And one day she died , all alone, and when Thomas finds her diary and starts reading it he find an entry , "Its now late, I have been waiting for his footsteps, but I dont think he will come today to speak to me". These words almost killed Thomas, he realized how ungratefull he had been. He had invested no time nor the effort to be gratefull for having such a nice woman alongside in this life. He had taken her for granted. And now it was too late to say "Thank you".

So many people in our lives are just there, like a handkerchief. They stay in the pockets and are only taken out when we sneeze or need to cleanse dirt from our faces. A mother who hangs on to her mobile for that phone call from her son, a father who waits for his son/daughter to drive him to a barber shop for a good shave, a brother who wants to pick up some books and waits for his big brother to pay for the same, a friend who needs some help and is afraid to ask because of the angry responses he would get for asking money, a wife/husband who really needs some encouragement to improve rather than angry shouts at being incompetent....and so on and on....handkerchieves....not worth thanking at all. They are all there to take help from us and for nothing else. Yea, why should we even thank these people, in fact, they should give us thank-you cards all through the year. We deserve it...we make the calls, we do the chores, we give them all they want and we deserve the thanks...they dont. Again, they are just a handkerchief to us.

Oh ! but wait, try this, close you eyes, and imagine this scenario where all of those above are not there, no mother/father, no wife/husband, no kids, no sibbling and no friends. Scary you might say and want to open your eyes as quick as possible....yes, thats how I felt. I need them all and I am certainly glad they are there for me. So many people like Jane and Thomas Carlyle did not have such people around them. Even today, look outside and around you, not many people have others to look up to or atleast to lay your head on their shoulders to cry, or to laugh with. Is that not reason enough to thank them ?

Some chores seem so small , such as a waiter bringing food quickly, checking up on us frequently to make sure we have it all. But we rarely thank him. We think its his duty. What about the Barber who makes us look neat ? What about our driver who takes care to drive us safely and waits around for us to come ? Oh ! but are they not paid for that. We are all paid for doing stuff, but a gratefull person would realize that the service they do, is something commendable and after paying them will also say "Thank you" for a neat job. That will make their day better and easier.

Basically, I am asking for us being the GOOD-Finders. Once we practice being gratefull, we will in our own way be improving lives around us. We will , by finding ways to thank people around us, enrich those lives, and they will want to perform again for getting the appreciation. Next time it will be a better job than this time.

Right now, there is a soul who may not be a thing in the world for us, but for whom we are the whole world. Thats the soul , needs to know we are gratefull for him/her being around. Don't take anyone for granted and never use people as handkerchieves. Become a good-finder and be a gratefull person, for the love you breathe in may not be there tomorrow and saying a big thanks at the cemetary wont help a whisker!