B L Razdan
The current population of planet Earth is around 7.8 billion. For most people, it is a large figure, that is all. However, someone has condensed the 7.8 billion in the world into 100 persons and then into various percentage statistics. The resulting analysis is relatively much easier to comprehend.
Out of 100 persons, 11 are in Europe, 5 are in North America, 9 are in South America, 15 are in Africa, 60 are in Asia; 49 live in the countryside, 51 live in towns/cities; 77 have their own houses, 23 have no place to live; 21 are over-nourished, 63 can eat full, 15 are under-nourished, 1ate the last meal, but did not make it to the next meal; the daily cost of living for 48 is less than US $2; 87 have clean drinking water, 13 either lack clean drinking water or have access to a water source that is polluted; 75 have mobile phones, 25 do not; 30 have internet access, 70 do not have conditions to go online; 7 received university education, 93 did not attend college; 83 can read, 17 are illiterate; 33 are Christians, 22 are Muslims, 14 are Hindus, 7 are Buddhists, 12 are other, religions, 12 have no religious beliefs; 26 live less than 14 years, 66 died between 15-64 years of age, 8 are over 65 years old, only 8 can live or exceed the age of 65. If you have your own home, eat full meals and drink clean water, have a mobile phone, can surf the internet, and have gone to college, you are in the miniscule privileged lot i.e. in the less than 7% category. If you are over 65 years old, be content and grateful. You are already the blessed amongst mankind. Cherish life, grasp the moment.
If only we could wake to a new day, with a clean slate and a pure heart with no baggage of yesterday, be it worry over tasks to be done, unfinished conversations, memories of hurt, pain, regret, guilt, what ‘ifs’ and ‘if onlys’, feeling empty, drained, lonely, sad, helpless; so often it’s a task to get up and face the day. We can’t change what happened yesterday or years ago. We cannot predict what tomorrow or even the next moment will bring. But we can change our perspective; just see the burdens we are carrying as illusions. These don’t exist, except in our ego mind, fed by our conditioning and negative energy. It’s like pulling a veil from our eyes and seeing the world afresh, with the eyes of the heart. The Universe and Life both have their hands behind our back. All we need, is to believe and it will be so. At any point of time, we can choose to respond, act, feel differently. We are soft, malleable, pure. Our mind tells us we can’t break out of the illusory, rock like exterior we created for ourselves by repeating to ourselves, “This is how I am, this is how I’ve always been.” No! We have not always been like this. Circumstances, and certain choices made us feel this way. We can now choose to feel differently, because we are different now. Maybe at that time we did what we knew best then. But we know better now. At that time, we hungered for the validation and love from others, or feared their rejection. Now, we have learned to accept and love ourselves as we are. We are learning to drop all need, expectations and dependency and come into our own truth and power. And the Universe happily supports our faith and courage. Let us wake up to this beautiful, new day, to love, to joy, to beauty and to gratitude. Celebrate who we are, and what we are becoming with every step we take.
Let us just ponder over these very brief seven short heart touching stories shared by Satya Nadella – CEO Microsoft – Each may change our attitude towards Life and make us a better person.
“I interviewed my grandmother for part of a research paper I’m working on for my Psychology class. When I asked her to define success in her own words, she said…. “Success is when you look back at your life and the MEMORIES make you smile.”
“After I watched my dog get run over by a car, I sat on the side of the road holding him and crying. And just before he died, He licked the tears off my face.
“As my father, my three brothers, and two sisters stood around my mother’s hospital bed, my mother uttered her last coherent words before she died. She simply said, “I feel so loved right now. We should have gotten together like this more often.”
“I kissed my dad on the forehead as he passed away in a small hospital bed. About 5 seconds after he passed, I realized it was the first time I had given him a kiss since I was a little boy.
“When I witnessed a 27-year-old cancer patient laughing hysterically at her 2-year-old daughter’s antics, I suddenly realized that I need to stop complaining about my life and start celebrating it again.
“A boy in a wheelchair saw me desperately struggling on crutches with my broken leg and offered to carry my backpack and books for me. He helped me all the way across campus to my class and as he was leaving he said, “I hope you feel better soon.
“I was traveling in Kenya and I met a refugee from Zimbabwe. He said he hadn’t eaten anything in over 3 days and looked extremely skinny and unhealthy. Then my friend offered him the rest of the sandwich he was eating. The first thing the man said was, “WE CAN SHARE IT”.
In conclusion, let us take good care of our own health because nobody can care more than we do ourselves to celebrate the moment of life with gratitude, love and of course, sharing.
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