Different shades of gratitude

….contd…..

Each one came forward with suggestions and they all ended up writing a beautiful TYC to that lady. But, we all in this process learnt that we can be grateful to a person who has been good once and has turned bitter now for even that person is teaching us something. That nothing is permanent. Even character changes with time and not necessarily for good. So judge not others for ye shall be judged. So, we all talked about our various relationships gone soar in which the other had turned bitter over the years.

Then we all decided that to thank that person the best way would be to quote all such of good qualities that the person exhibited in the past, all the good that the other had done in the past and thank for leading by example by living that quality.

Apart from just being grateful, we could also remind the other his/her great qualities and entice them to embrace such of qualities once again – this was just a possibility but if it could happen then nothing like that.

This took longer than I had anticipated. The entire morning passed and we had covered only two people. Long way to go! May be, this session can’t be wound up in two days. No doubt, our Guruji always said that “gratitude” is a huge word and to understand and apply it took janmas for most of us! It was well past lunch time and we all got up to have our lunch served.

Half an hour later, we were back in our seats.

 

“I want to thank my wife for all that she could have been and yet chose not to be. I couldn’t afford either comforts or luxuries and yet she never complained about them. Leave alone complain, she never once asked me to buy them. She was a woman of few and simple wants. My sisters would purchase silk saris for every festival year after and would indulge in both gold and artificial jewellery, my wife would never hanker for such items. I never saw her look or feel sad for want of these things too! Yet, I never thought it was a special and rare quality. I would praise my sisters for one thing and my friend’s wife for another, but never ever realized how blessed I was for not having a ‘nagging wife’. Most of my friends and relatives complained about their wife’s nagging and even then it never occurred to me that I never had to face that in my life” continued Venkatesh “I would hear so much about fights in every house and yet never wondered why I didn’t have that complain in my life. Not that everyone was part of ‘Rajashri film” in my house. No, even in my house, all had complaints with one another but my wife never retaliated and would stop the negativity at her. She never taunted me for having such a family. Never nagged me to pick up a fight with them. Never instigated me to start an argument with others. She was instrumental for that peace in my life when she like any other could have pulled me into the bitterness that was brewing in the family.

....contd.....