LET'S LEAVE BEHIND WHAT WE DON'T NEED TO CARRY

Like birds, let’s leave behind what we don’t need to carry –

Grudges, Sadness, Pain, Fear and Regrets.

Life is beautiful… Enjoy it.

Happy New-Year. 

 

Of several New-Year greetings that I have received so far, this one made the maximums impact on my heart… It, also, made the maximum sense to my head!

I was extremely happy when I saw this greeting on my phone. The sender, a young girl, was my student two years ago, and, presently, pursues her studies in Chartered Accountancy. Life has not been easy for her family. Her father had deserted them when this girl was too small and her mother too young. The mother had neither the means nor the education – not even a proper roof over their head - to make both ends meet. Still, she struggled, with great dignity, to give her only girl a good education, and raise her up with fine values.

It was tough for them not only financially… but also emotionally.

And, because the girl has been exceptionally committed and well-natured, and because they have been extremely sincere and dignified, the help has come to them from unexpected sources. The young girl has not let down any one - her mother, teachers or well-wishers.

So, when the above New-Year greeting came from this girl, it made me sit up… and read the message with real attention.

“If this young-one says so, it means, Life is, in deed, beautiful!” I found myself telling in my heart, “How else can the New-Year be a happy one?”

1st Jan is only one more date, one more day…

It makes no difference in my life even if a thousand people wish me ‘Happy New-Year’… Nor will it make a difference in anyone’s life even if I send a thousand such greetings … yes, unless we leave behind our ‘sad-old baggage’ – our Grudges, Sadness, Pain, Fear and Regrets…

“Wherever we go, we carry ourselves,” this old wisdom applies when we go into a New-Year, too. If we enter the New-Year harboring in our hearts all the heaviness of the past year, then, what will be ‘new’ about the New-Year?

What inspired me was the fact that the life-empowering greeting was sent to me by someone who had a hell-lot of problems in her life… a hell-lot to complain about… a lot many people to blame, and a lot many people to hold grudges against.

It is, also, the fact that, 

the greeting was sent to me by a young-one. 

Young-ones, normally, are very impatient, 

intolerant and reactive… 

yes, when Life gives them a raw-deal!

And, above all, it was the fact that it was a girl who had sent me that message… who, like millions of other girls of her age, today, had enough gory stories to carry to her new-year - enough grudges, sadness, pain, fear and regrets.

Yet, this young-girl chose to walk into her new-year with such a simple and positive message… that has, only, made me a lot happier, hopeful… and, yes, a lot proud, too.

Enjoy it… Life is beautiful, she says!

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Gloria Pinto