This is again something a lot of us don’t usually think about a lot, so I decided to put it down in black and white.
Last night, after simply wandering all over downtown Constablerwache just for a heck of it and having an amazing dinner, I curled up in my easy chair with a steaming cup warming my hands watching reruns of Die Hard. And I realized, God, I have a good life!
Actually just yesterday, I was watching a special on CNN on how Congo’s “Tin soldiers” slave through the nation’s mines, barely clothed, digging with their bare hands and carrying sacks of the ore through a dense forest…just for food.
Yup, you read right, these guys don’t even get paid – they literally work in return for food. The only other option is to go hungry.
And when you connect the two sides together, it doesn’t even seem to make sense anymore. I mean, on one hand you have us guys cribbin about how work’s so lousy, the boss so mean, and not getting paid enough when we have enough money to…well not needing to care about going hungry for even one meal!!
On the other hand you have people like the ones you see on tv, working maybe ten times as hard as you or me and still having to wonder where lunch is gonna come from.
Unfortunately a lot of us don’t realize it but we are a very fortunate lot. And being so, means social obligations to people around us. Help for a needy, food for the poor, clothing for the less fortunate.
We have a lot to be thankful for.
Labels: Stray thoughts
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5 comments:
Rightly said brother. Many a times we dont realise the bigger blessings of our lives instead we pierce our sight into the trivialities resulting in utmost mental discomfort and ultimately losing out on the larger picture.
Just wanted to share this...
One of my colleague was so lost that she decided it was time to say goodbi to the blessings.How did she do it? By taking her life.
something she thought was the only way to give vent to her frustrations..
Sad it is that many a people fail to read it. Its only when we see it in black and white that it strikes our mind - the blessing i mean...
Rightly said brother. Many a times we dont realise the bigger blessings of our lives instead we pierce our sight into the trivialities resulting in utmost mental discomfort and ultimately losing out on the larger picture.
Just wanted to share this...
One of my colleague was so lost that she decided it was time to say goodbi to the blessings.How did she do it? By taking her life.
something she thought was the only way to give vent to her frustrations..
Sad it is that many a people fail to read it. Its only when we see it in black and white that it strikes our mind - the blessing i mean...
very true.. once when two of my frens visited my room .. they asked me 'why the heck do you have to display a picture of the dachau camp with all these other pictures'.. I told them 'it was to remind myself that most peple in the world do not have a life as fortunate as mine'.. it is screwed up that we do sometimes,more often rather, take it for granted..
reminds me of what I read recently about the 'bitter' chocolates from Ivory Coast in Africa, in 'Fortune'.. labours out there work in no different conditions than what u have mentioned in your post, the only difference being children are employed to cultivate cocoa :(. People like us know that we can do nothing to them, apart from posting an entry on this in the blog or at the most, get down to the streets and shout 'boycott hershey's'!
But it is also true that almost all of us have some problems or the other. If we dont have to worry about food, we may have something else to worry.. We just have to be thankful to the Almighty for all the blessings on us!!
If you have time, you can look at what Islam says about this.. :)
wasalam
You are from Crescent, Chennai Right..
A good blog you have got. Keep it up.
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