Far away from home, here I am;
not too happy, yet not too sad;
wandering and trying to find myself;
for time and life have made it so hard to guess;
what my purpose in life is?
And will I ever, in this life,
be able to find my true self?
A demanding but a friendly voice was calling from above telling me to take a photo. I guess it didn't want me to miss such beauty, as lots of time I walk with my eyes down and my thoughts away in every day's drama. I also think it wanted to tell me how amazing the beauty that surrounds us is. Or don't you agree?!!!
I was sitting there trying to read when a fifty year old lady caught my attention, as she came to sit in front of me with her husband and children. It was not anything she did or said that made my eyes follow her, but it was the fact that her husband was holding her hands tight and she was moving slowly, simply because she was blind. As she sat down, her husband and children went to grab some hotdogs and left her alone. So filled with peace, although her lost looks, she hanged her purse on her knee and leaned her bag on her leg, so she would feel them instead of seeing them. With tranquility, she sat there looking straight ahead as if she was watching the outside through the window. A few moments later, her husband came, holding a hotdog in a bun for her. She took the plate from him and placed it on her laps and with searching fingers, she looked for the hotdog lying in front of her. As her fingers touched the bun, they eagerly started to search for the ketchup. As she found it, she leaned toward her husband and asked him if it was ketchup or mustard. Once he replied, the eager fingers tore open the pack and squeezed it all on the same spot. Then they spread the ketchup on the hotdog. She held the bun and slowly approached it to her mouth, which although was not a successful attempt in the first time, it was in the second. Just before her first bite, her youngest teenager son came back, all grumpy and moaning saying that they ran out of hotdogs and he couldn’t get any. So loving, she held the bun towards where the sound came from and offered him to take hers. When he asked her what she was going to eat if he took it, she simply smiled and said, “Don’t worry. I’m not that hungry. I’ll be fine.” The words struck me tremendously. “Be fine”!!!! She was blind and she said she’d be fine. I wondered how many times I have not been fine and I thought that the world has come to an end because of a reason that doesn’t deserve. How many times have I complained about things that don’t matter? Then I realized how miserable ungrateful creature I am, not just for complaining but also for not appreciating or even realizing every bless I have.
When I was a child I was fascinated by airports. Every time someone I know was arriving or leaving, it was my little adventure to accompany my dad to either pick him up or drop him off to the airport. I always thought how amazing it would be to travel around to different places and I prayed for the day I would do that.
Now, although I have been traveling around a lot and being in an airport became quite a normal thing, I still have this fascination for them. Although the limited space the airport occupies, yet it encloses all those different people going and coming from all those different places for all those different reasons.
You see that guy dressed up in an elegant suit, with a laptop and cell phone, talking business and wonder if he was having his 50 million dollars deal within the next few hours. You see that family of six in their Hawaiian shirts, flip flops and tanned skin and wonder how great the trip to Hawaii was. You see that eighty year old, wrinkled lady in her wheel chair, with all the cheerfulness on her face and wonder if she was going to attend her granddaughter’s wedding party. You see that middle aged guy with a bunch of red roses running across the terminal and wonder if he is going to meet his beloved after being away for a long time. You see that teenage boy with his huge bag on his back and excitement in his eyes and wonder if he was going on his dream trip which he would come back from with lot of stories to tell his friends. You see that forty year old lady with a tired but a relieved face and wonder if she was pleased to be back home after a tiring job assignment.
Wherever the people were going to or coming from, whatever the purpose of the trip was, I always wondered would this trip bring them what they were looking for or would it be a totally unexpected event that they never thought would happen. I always wondered!!!
When hotdogs and burgers become first class food, more enjoyable than the best French cuisine, When a can of coke, on a special occasion, is as tasty as the most expensive bottle of wine, When fancy limousines lose their charm and a ride on the bus becomes very fine. Know! You are satisfied.
When the sun is so hot in the sky yet the color of its rays you enjoy, When you walk for miles and all what you feel is a needle’s prick, When you spend hours watching the ducks and wonder how beautiful God’s creation is. Know! You are in peace.
When a walk in the park is more exciting than a cruise in the Caribbean, And the merry-go-round becomes an amazing adventure, When a silly conversation is interesting and a dump joke cracks up your laughter, When a simple gesture is a bless from heaven and success is someone’s smile. Know! You are happy.
So my dear friend, when such a moment comes to you, Grasp so tightly and don’t let it go, As it will pass by and won't be here to stay, And your life will not be at all the same, Without you enjoying it along your tiring way.
