TGIF #6: Life

Image Courtesy: Dreamstime

It seems to me that the very fact that we are alive is a miracle. Every day we hear of some disaster, natural or otherwise, claiming thousands of lives. If one part of the world is hiding from hurricanes, another part is shrivelling with famine and poverty. As if these were not enough, we have disillusioned terrorists detonating bombs or gunning down innocent victims. Planes fall out of the sky, trains go off the tracks and cars crash all the time. Wars are fought with utmost zeal and young people are killed off in the name of honour. All this apart from the other huge group dying natural deaths due to sickness or old age. Whew! It looks like the odds are definitely stacked against living!

And yet I am alive. (Touchwood!) 

When there are so many other promising lives being wiped off the face of the earth, I don’t really know why I have been spared. When my life could have been possibly extinguished in a snap, I don’t know why, God or Destiny or the Universe or whatever has thought that it is important for me to still be alive. And that itself should imply that my life is precious.

Have I ever felt depressed? Yes I have. Have there been times when I have thought, “What is this wretched life? I wish it would all just end” Yep. Have I ever felt that nothing is going my way, that all my efforts are useless and that it is just not worth it? Of course. Have there been instances when I was angry and dissatisfied with life? Sure. How many times have I felt that even getting out of bed needed a supreme effort and that it was much better to just lie buried in the depths of my bed-covers instead? Many times.

I am a kind of person who oscillates between two extremes. One day I love everyone and everything and the next day, the feeling of goodwill has magically evaporated. One day I am all happy and pleased and content and the next day, I can’t stop feeling miserable. One day I am floating lightly humming “I’m on top of the world, looking down on creation!” and the next, I am down in the dumps, bitterly cursing and lamenting my fate. You get the drift – I am not really a well-balanced person. (I am still evolving, okay!?)

But since I have chosen today to be thankful, I have made a conscious decision to be a better person. I realize that I am special – because I have been blessed with a most special gift – a beautiful life. Replete with laughter and dreams. Yes it is not all rosy and enchanted; there are tears, tantrums, disappointments, pain and heartache too. But today I choose to look at the brighter side, at the silver lining. Today, much out of my basic character, I choose to look at the glass half full.

Therefore this Friday,  I am indeed thankful for the gift of Life! Both mine and your's - because without your's, what meaning would there be to mine?