Thank you

Dozing one evening on my way back from work, I was suddenly woken up by a hard knock on the window. I open my eyes to be greeted by the bluest, saddest pair of expectant eyes I've ever seen. Before I could react, the signal turned green and we were off.

I belong to the school of thought who feels that giving money to beggars only encourages them to beg some more. Labourers toiling hard day after day in most cases earn less than beggars do. So what do we do ? Sit in our air conditioned cars and curse our luck that India is such a poor country. Look at beggars with contempt because they are spoiling an otherwise beautiful landscape. Wonder what "foreigners" will think of "our" country when they see so many beggars on the street.

Isn't "our" country also the country of those same beggars ? I am sure that when God was doling of life choices at birth, they did not voluntarily choose the life they eventually got. So what exactly did they, or we, do to deserve our lives ?

The look in those eyes haunts me even today. And they got me thinking ? What did I do differently to deserve the life I got ? Is it karma ? Is it a blessing for a good deed that I did in a previous life ? I have never believed in these things, but something tells me that its more than just plain good luck.

And that good luck is what I call Mom & Dad.

So if I have never thanked my Parents for gifting me my life and giving me opportunities which They may not have had themselves, then I am thanking Them now. I will thank Them tomorrow and I will thank Them for the rest of my life.

And I am thanking God for giving me the Parents that he has.

And I think that we should all be thanking our Parents. Irrespective of all the disagreements that we may have had (or will have) with Them. For if you are sitting in front of a computer, reading this post, then you are where you are today because They opened a lot of doors. Because They treaded paths which They may not have wanted to Themselves but did for us.