Count your blessings
We humans always take things for granted. I am guilty of that too…and it took someone that I hardly know to make me realise that I ought to start counting my blessings…I was at my regular petrol kiosk, when the attendant came over and helped me fill up my petrol tank.
Petrol Kiosk Attendant (PKA): Hi, haven’t seen you for a while... How are you?
(No, he’s not trying to pick me up – he’s just being friendly, as you do with a regular customer…)
Jolll: Hello… I am fine
PKA: Just finished work…? I remember you told me that you work nearby…
Jolll: Yes, you are right… I just finished work.
PKA: You are working in a construction company, so where did u graduate from?
Jolll: (matter of factly) Oh… from Australia.
PKA: (in awe) Wow… so did u get a scholarship to study there…?
Jolll: (embarrassed) Err… No
PKA: Why did u decide to go overseas?
How should I tell him? That I decided to go overseas because I was sick of the bloody education system in Singapore…? That I wanted to experience something different, and it has always been a tacit understanding within my family that I would be sent overseas, like my sisters… Deciding that it might sound too haughty to tell the truth, I gave a half-truth.
Jolll: Err… because I never studied Malay, and so its hard for me to further my studies locally… (I know this sounds a bit lame...)
PKA: Oh.. I see.. So how did you pay for your overseas education? Bank loan ah?
Jolll: (more embarrassed) Err… no lah. My father is my sponsor…
Look of Envy registered on PKA’s face.
By this time, I had filled up my petrol tank (thank goodness!), and I bid farewell to my friendly neighbourhood petrol kiosk attendant.
Yet that short 5 minute conversation struck a chord in my heart.
Things that I have always taken for granted might be another person’s desires. Instead of lamenting “why don’t I have this?” I ought to be thankful of what I’ve got:
1) I am thankful that I was safely delivered by the midwife even though I was a breech baby.
2) I am thankful that I grew up having a happy and comfortable childhood, with neither worries nor troubles.
3) I am thankful for my dad, whom despite having to provide for all 6 of us, managed to give us all the best education that we could get.
4) I am thankful that I was able to study overseas, which opened my eyes and my mind to the world beyond.
5) Finally I am thankful that I am surrounded by good friends and supported by a close-knit family. Without them, life would just not be the same.
Start counting your blessings today.
Jolll Meowed at 6:17 pm
<< Home