How often do we look at a better car and aspire to want it? Or a bigger, more fancier house, and feel that we are living in a small cubby hole? No matter the fact that we may actually be in a comfortable 3BHK with enough space for ourselves.
Sometimes this may manifest as a thought of jealousy, sometimes as aspiration and ambition, and sometimes, just a pining for more.
Not that it is necessarily a negative emotion always. However, the constant feeling that “you don’t have enough” just because there is a bigger, better, larger thing out there, is not such a healthy feeling. In having this constant ire that “I don’t have as much”, you end up not enjoying what you have, and which may be better than what a lot of the world has!
Let me share an example.
I had gone to drop my daughter, mother and few others, who were traveling to Dubai, for a short break. I might not even have gone to the airport, and let the driver take them there, as we did not think as much about the 4-day short holiday that they were taking. We are a reasonably well traveled family in that sense, and while not being entirely trivial, the 4-day Dubai trip was not as big a deal.
But I went anyway. And after the family walked inside, I was hanging out for a bit. Actually waiting for the driver to bring the car.
And I saw this very large entourage of a family, with what seemed like brothers, sisters, parents, grandmother, etc. of a young man, who was also leaving for Dubai. And there was an amazing excitement in everyone’s eyes. A sense of pride and happiness. As he went inside, and then he must have been passing by across the entry gate, the family strained to see him, and pointed to each other “did you see Rasesh – he just passed by..?” etc. And they brought the grandmother ahead, and gave her a glimpse of the son, as he went by.
All awesome scenes, for me.
And I realized that the trip was a big one for that family. Maybe the guy had got a job there, well paying one, and it meant a lot for the rest of the family. Or he was the first in the family to go outside India. Or some such thing.
And that’s when the thought sinks in.
What we took for granted (in a sense) is such a huge thing for someone else.
I could equally feel differently (like I felt on a previous occasion at the airport, when Mukesh Ambani and his family entourage came in about 6 different fancy cars and were on their way to take their personal aircraft, perhaps to some exotic holiday) seeing some other passengers on the other side of the balance.
But then to appreciate that its all relative, and we have a lot that we should be thankful of, even as we aspire for better or more…
What do you think?
Random Musings 