you get up early in the morning? Its so nice to see the light and the blue
skies, particularly through the trees. It is indeed life giving.
I remember Appaiah, the man who had no limbs or arms, he was merely a torso,and
all he could do was crawl on his back from door to door for food (in 60’sin India).
As a teen I did not understand the purpose of his life, and seriously thought
he should commit suicide as there is nothing in life for him. He cannot
marry;he cannot have kids, cannot take baths, cannot wear clothes and simply
cannot do a thing other than crawling door to door for food.
After three years of providing him food on Sunday afternoons, I gathered up the
courage and asked him, hey Appaiah why do you continue to suffer ( I had become
a big Buddha fan then), what is there for you in life?
He took a deep breath, and laughed out loudly – and said, “Son, I have
every reason to live my life that is given to me, when it rains, I love to
crawl up in the open and smell the fresh rained upon dirt, when I crawl through
the streets I love the smell of the food and above all, when I get up in the
morning, I love seeing the blue skies and the light…. that had floored me
then and I continue to remember him often.
Gratitude is what re-energizes our soul. If Appaiah can be grateful with
nothing ,virtually nothing other than sight, sound, smell and taste, why can’t
we be grateful?Being thankful to the system that gave us life, being thankful
to God, merely a thought of appreciation of any one who has been good to us
like the parents, siblings, spouse, kids and friends will energize us,those who
are not good to us can be forgiven at least in our own minds, its powers us up.
Those whom you have scores to settle, keep that up, there is plenty in life to
be grateful for.
Forgiveness is the most powerful ability we have, we have to use it liberally,
we will be the ultimate beneficiary of it. – all this all could happen in our
minds and find a release.
Mike Ghouse
