“I cried because I had no shoes, then I met a man who had no feet.”
You know
how every so often you have those moments in life where you decide you will
never take anything you have for granted? That moment where you see someone
that has not eaten in days, or a ten year old girl carrying around a baby and
she is pregnant, and you say I will never take all the fortune in my life for
granted again? I had that moment twice the other day when I went on the bus to
meet my friends. I am sitting listening to my iPod looking how dirty and gross
my shoes were thinking that I need to by some new ones because they suck and
how I have freakishly large feet and hands. And then the people on the bus
start parting ways. I look down the bus to see nothing, and then I see this man
and his wife laughing. The man is moving himself along with his hands because
he was missing both of his legs. His hands were covered in dirt ,but he looks
up at all the people and says ¨I´m sorry I don’t know what I am eating, but I just
am not getting any taller!¨ with the biggest grin. As the bus halts and he
climbs down the bus with his hands. I thought to myself wow. Tears filled my
eyes by simply how beautiful that man has to be only by seconds of seeing him. That
he can make life his own, he does not choose the easy way out. Once he left I reflected
on how self centered I can be in my own life. And how there are many opportunities
that I do not take advantage of, just because I do not feel like it. But, unlike this man, I have two legs. Two more
reasons to do twice the things that he can´t do in life. As I am in the middle
of this process a man walks on the bus with a guitar. This is quite a normal event;
they arrive sing and then collect money. But, this man was different, he was
missing his hand. I looked around to see if this was my mind just messing with
me, but all the other passengers had the same look of, ¨how many missing body
parts are we going to see today?¨ this man starts playing guitar with one
arm! Strumming with his stump and
singing to the music. These moments pass as do all. And it makes me think what I
can do to be better and do better and live better. I have realized that at many
points in our lives we are stagnant and just surviving. We are content with our
routine and though not joyful we are complacent and not sad. I think as people
of opportunity and intelligence we owe ourselves more, owe the world more. Don’t
just survive be alive. Chase life. Because, who knows one day you could be that
person that has been though life and realized you never lived it.
