Day 76 - Are we really Thankful?

I was watching a program called 'Lift Kara De' a few hours back and saw something that got me thinking. First the program - its an interesting take on fan following of celebrities. As we know in India film is HUGE business and film stars are big celebrities with maniacal fan following. This program tries to identify the biggest fan for a particular star, narrows hundreds of applicants down to three, gives them a task and the winner of that gets to meet his/her celebrity. Pretty normal till now.

The twist comes in that for each celebrity the program also identifies a family in dire need of money. The amount of money that the fan earns in performing the task is multiplied by a factor of a few thousands to arrive at an amount that the celebrity hands over to this family in dire need. Thereby the program 'Life Kara De' i.e the celebrity and the fan lift the life of the family to a different height.

So what has all that got to do with this post?

On the episode that I was watching they showed a family of 5 - parents and 3 kids - living in poverty with mega problems. The father is a horse cart driver earning approx Rs 1000 a month. The mother was diagnosed with a tumor in her lower spine and is unable to walk. The youngest kid has a physical deformity, the middle child is just 6 years old but has become like a mother to the family while the eldest is a 11 year old boy who needs to work to support the family. The father is helpless even though he wants to send his kids to school. The family has stopped treatment for the mother since they don't even have money for food. The parents go hungry sometimes so that they can feed the kids. The father says he wants to cry when he sees his kids but who can he go to to cry and the mother says that she sometimes feels like taking all the kids and committing suicide. There are so many families like this in India.

As I watched this I looked around and wondered if I was thankful enough for what I had? I had no physical deformities that hampered my growth. I had a safe and secure childhood growing up. I got my complete education and my parents saw to it that I never felt a lack of money and had no responsibilities growing up. I got a good job and was able to earn fair amount of money. I have not had, by the Grace of God, to face a situation where making ends meet was an issue. My family's health is good. I have the ability to take care of my children right now. And my loved ones are around me.

Do I realise how lucky I am to have all this? I think in our daily lives and our own small problems we forget about the gift that we have been give. We take the fact that we can walk, talk, hear, see, run and use our hands for granted. We take the gift of our work and security of our earnings for granted. We take the presence of our loved ones and friends for granted. We take the food on our plate for granted. We watch a program like this, feel bad for them, happy for us and go back to taking things for granted the next minute.

I think its time we woke up to the fact that we are lucky and be thankful for all that we have.

On a separate note, the program and BigB combined to give the above family Rs 10 Lacs so that their worries may go away and they may live a happy life!

Be Thankful, people, that we do not need help like this! Be Thankful!