Complaint!!!

Fighting fires should be the routine for a Fire Fighter same as Rocket Science should be routine for a Rocket Scientist.

If you are a kindergarten teacher and you fought a small fire that had started in the break room, then you are a hero. But the same kindergarten teacher handling a group of twenty kids all less than 6 years old, visiting a museum is just her routine job so no heroic deed. However It is certainly heroic for a fire fighter to handle that bunch of kids(The same fire fighter who could manage to control a fire in a high rise office building saving lives, as a part of his routine job)

Being heroic is not a matter of what you do; but a matter of what you do outside your vocation.  And then there are those rare situations that do not fit any ones routine job; how well one handles those determines if the person is a hero.

I have heard so many times from people around me, complaining about their jobs. Complaining about things that are a part of their basic job description and I feel sad at hearing those. Feel sad because those complaints point that either they are not in the right job or they are just not in the right mind set and both these situations are damaging and sad. And even gloomier is the fact that complaining about job is just in vogue for a very long time.

Look all around you and you may see the kind of people I am talking about. And I am sure you may see that there are a lot of them. At stores, in metro stations, restaurants, malls, hospitals, banks, hotels, airlines; where ever you go; you see those people who display that they are unhappy with what they do.

I was thinking really hard about it lately to see if I am one of those; so I happily and proudly state that I found I am not. After having discovered that, I am making conscious choices to ensure that I don’t give a false impression of being unhappy when I am not.

There are always situations worth complaining about; like the kindergarten teacher in the museum with 20 kids has all right to complain if she finds that the only working bathroom is on the 4^th floor and the elevators are not working. The fire fighter can complain when the hose doesn’t reach the upper floors of a high rise in distress.

So after a lot of introspection I am sure I complained for a reason mostly. Except for my other job, (Raising my kids); where I have complained at times for their being loud or naughty.  That should be the norm on that job and not worth complaining. And honestly I would not even like if they are too quite. May be if they don’t throw food crumbs on floor and take a little better care of their toys after they are done playing, I will be happier. However this morning I was angry as we were getting late in getting ready for school/day care/ office and I complained and almost screamed. I knew that was not right, it will not happen often.

Having said all the above; it will be naive to think that there is never a reason to complain. Some of the complaints have motives valid enough; like the fire fighter right at a situation finds that his or her gear is insufficient or the building occupants are not listening to the instruction. The teacher dealing with kids adamant on using the 4^th floor bath room when there was a bathroom on the ground floor or situations like that.

Now that I have thought about this I will be more careful when I whine. Because if building rockets was too difficult for me; I should not have been an engineer at NASA and if I could not stand the aroma of spices being heated then I should not have been a chef and if the site of  a wounded person makes me dizzy then I should not have chosen to be a doctor. 

I do what I do because I like it so I DO NOT grumble about the challenges that are a part of the routine (And that includes facing the curve ball while batting, provided I am not asked to play with blind folds and the bat is not snatched from my hands right when the ball is coming my way)

.....And that is a promise!!!

Contentment

But you already ate the ice cream, did you not? Yes! but why can I not get the candy? The kid replied, before starting to sound upset. And next moment he was sobbing. Now you are being greedy and not thankful, really ungrateful, his father said in a stern voice. Any adult watching can see that the kid was being greedy and obviously wrong. Why does he want more? After all, it is important to understand; even at this age, that one must be content with what he gets. Instead of crying he should have enjoyed the treat he just got and thanked his dad, and that might have earned him more stuff later.

Well, I'm watching this scene and thinking, where did the kids learn this from?  We were not like that when we were kids; right? “I never did something like this when I was your age” I could hear his dad say this as if reading my thoughts.

Before the next part of the scene unfolds; a shiny white car stops in the mall's parking lot. And with that my mind just stops. And everyone’s eyes (including that kid’s dad’s) turn towards the car. I could figure that everyone’s thoughts just got over written by the beauty and the glamour of the car. And one common thought in all those minds

Wow! I wish I had a cool Bentley like that........

PS: Modeling contentment is important but certainly not easy. What do you think?

God-Flower Revisited

February 4th 2013:

The God-Flower; even after a few small and a few not so small Snows showers, extremely below freezing temperatures, and all that the weather could bring (Rain , Sleet , Winds etc.) is there on that bush. More than 2 months after it originally blossomed!! 

Withered, frozen, weak but there, hanging in, defying the standards; all the flowers from Spring Summer time lost the petals within a week of blooming. But this is different. The resilience this flower has displayed in the adverse climate is astonishing.

Withered but There The GOD-FLOWER

It challenges the norms pushes way out of the limits. Certainly this is not typical for a flower to stand all that weather and still retain all its petals tethered to the core, shrunken and seemingly lifeless, but not letting it go.

Anyhow, nothing about this flower had ever been normal. Its being THE GOD-FLOWER instilled the faith in us to see it this way or may be the Faith that was invested by my God-Sent philosopher manifested into it making it the God-Flower. Whatever the reason; it stays, continuing the promise of celestial protection.

Somethings; are so obviously God-Sent!!

PS: Link to original post (God-Flower) God-Flower (posted in December)
http://nuancesofbeing.blogspot.com/2012/12/god-flower.html