Friday, December 25, 2009

Yeh Jeevan Hai..

Over heard in the Boston Metro..

I woman on crutches, with her right leg heavily plastered, gingerly hops onto the subway train. Due to office hour rush, she is not able to find a place to sit. She somehow manages to balance herself and stands next to a vertical support.

An old man standing nearby, moved by the situation, speaks to her. “It must be difficult travelling in the subway in this state. You should have stayed home.”

“I need to go to work every day.” the woman replied with a smile.

“Oh! Going to work everyday must be a challenge. I guess you must be happy that the day is over and you are going home to take some rest.”

“Not really. With this broken leg, I find it harder to do the household chores as compared to my office duties, especially with 2 young kids at home.”

“Ya, I guess so. Hope your husband shares some of your burden at home.”

“I am a single mother”.

The old man pats her on the back. The conversation ends.

The incident highlights a couple of things for me. One, how tough and lonely life can be in extremely individualistic societies of the West; where the concept of family life as we know it in the East, simply does not exist. And two, no matter how tough your life is personally, you can always find someone else who is going through worse times. Hence, we should always be thankful for what God has given us.

No comments: