HEY, LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL






What is happening outside happens for all of us… Yes, so many things happen outside there – good ones and bad ones, happy ones and sad ones… some gruesome, some glorious… some tear our hearts some make us soar high with hope and peace… Outside is volatile place… all people are not trustworthy, and, at the same time, all people are not mean either… Everybody is selfish, thankless and greedy? No, never, ever. All events are tragic and hopeless? No, never, ever. There is nothing to cheer about, smile about, laugh about hope about, rejoice over… deeply thankful for… celebrate over?

At least, we do not live here in Nazi Concentration Camps, you see. When I watched the 1997 movie, ‘Life is Beautiful’, which is a story about a Jewish family – a young husband and wife along with their little son – caught in Hitler’s Concentration Camp, it had a profound effect on me. Those were extreme situations in life… And, ours? Now?

Right when we wake up in the morning, our cell-phone screens tell us how people around us view Life… Fortunately, many of them choose to share something very, very light, funny, innocent and enchanting… They choose to share humour, they choose to share innocence, they choose to say, “Hey, Life is short and don’t end it up complaining, feeling victimized or holding grudges…Just lighten up  a bit, just smile, laugh and celebrate… Who knows, you may not get this moment again!”

This morning, as I was leaving for my work, I heard a middle-aged man telling me this, “We do not know if we will return home in the evening!”

Did I react, “Don’t say that”?

No, I did not. He was referring to our big egos, arrogance and sense of importance. “Who is going to take anything from this world?” he was saying, “Why so much of self-importance?”

It is this awareness, that life is short and we are not going to be here for long, nor we will be able to take our ‘stuff’ along when we go… yes, this simple awareness that makes us hail, “Hey, Life is beautiful”!

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Malabika Ganguly

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