Life is Beautiful!

Life is Beautiful!

It was twilight when I returned home one evening from a teaching assignment. When I turned my car round the corner, I saw a group of children gathered right in front the gate of my house, looking at something with lot of excitement and discussing animatedly. I stopped the car at a distance and walked up to the children. One of them noticed me and started off immediately “uncle, look at its color, it is beautiful, is it not? We spotted it on the roadside. It was alone and crying. We brought it here, gave some milk, patted it and it started playing with us. It became our friend and each one of us wants to take it home. That is what we are discussing”. I looked at the object of such a great excitement and it was a puppy. It was happily playing with all the children and every child was giving advice to the other as to how to take care of a pet. Their faces were beaming with joy and time seemed to standstill in front of their happiness.

Is life so simple? I was amazed as well as happy to see the children taking great delight in a seemingly insignificant object for the grown- ups and went for answers into my inner self.

My inner self said “Life is simple if you do not complicate it”.

As if coming from nowhere, I asked  “what complication? I am a grown up man with qualifications, material wealth, knowledge and an ability to solve biggest of the problems in life”. My inner self laughed and said “that is the difference between you grown-ups and the children. You always think big, are on the look- out for big things to give you happiness and are always complaining instead of enjoying. The children look at simple things in life, are excited at every small thing, object and living being and enjoy them as if there is no tomorrow. Have you seen their faces when they were playing with and discussing about the puppy? They were elated as if they made a new invention and were enjoying it. They were animatedly discussing about the future of the puppy as if they are its guardians. They forgot about their surroundings, about themselves and were only thinking about the puppy and nothing else”

“Would you have noticed the puppy”? My inner self asked me. As if answering its own question it continued “you would not have noticed it. Your eyes, which always dream of big things for your own self, your mind which keeps planning about the next step in the material hierarchy and your inner senses which have lost their ability to appreciate small things, would not have certainly noticed it”.

“You are exaggerating”, I said cried aloud.

“Let me clarify”, my inner self said and asked few questions. “How many times did you notice the smile or pain of another human being? How many times did you appreciate the beauty of the rising Sun, emotion filled twilight, the greenery in our concrete jungles, the beauty of the bouquet which you pass through daily in the reception of your office and the unconditional love of your near and dear ones? It will take a millennium for me to recount all the beautiful things which you are not noticing and are missing”. My inner self paused.

“I think you are right”, I confessed and asked “Why am I failing to notice the beauty of Life”?

“You Grown-ups have been conditioned to complain instead of enjoying. You complain about everything as if it is your birth right. On a sunny day, you complain of heat; on a wintry day, you complain of cold; when there are no rains, you complain of drought; when there are rains, you complain of having to be confined to home; if someone laughs heartily, you complain of noise; if someone keeps to himself, you complain of him being a snob. Can you pause for a while and ask yourself as to who has given you the right to complain about the things you have not toiled to create? Have you ever thought of bringing some improvement or happiness to your surroundings, things and people”? my inner self questioned.

Life is short. “Let us understand that this life falls short for you to appreciate all its beauty and if you start complaining about everything, you will leave this world with a frown on your face without ever seeing its beauty”, my inner self said. “Why don’t you appreciate the beauty instead of complaining? Learn to appreciate life. Greatest of the joys come from smallest of the things. Appreciate the air you breathe, a flower in your garden, a good word, a nod, a smile or a simple act by another person and reciprocate. Complaints, which have become your second nature, will start vanishing and you will start breathing life into life” it added.

“Life’s lesson from the children”. My inner self stopped as if it had said everything and I focused my attention on the children in front of me. I saw one of them tying a small string to the puppy’s neck and started taking it for a walk, while all the others were merrily following it clapping and dancing.

“I joined them” as if in a trance, forgetting all my inhibitions, pretences and the cover on my eyes, clouds in my heart and the clutter in my mind started evaporating.

“Life is Beautiful” I shouted to my heart’s content and took a big leap in to the air.