The chairs in the hall are not comfortable. The AC is too high. There is no variety in the high tea you provide. Sandwiches or uthappam’s always!!
Why do we complain so much? Why do we grumble?
Do you remember? One month back, during the first meeting of this year, we sweated it out in another hall in the same floor because the AC was not effective there. How many of you appreciated the comfort of this hall at that moment? How many?
Do we recognize the value of things only when we don’t have it? How many of us appreciate and praise things around us?
These questions take me to my childhood. There was a time I used to travel to school by public transport and had to run all the way to catch the bus at 7.30. I complained about the overcrowded and less frequent buses without knowing that there were children who walked barefooted to schools far away from their homes.
Further, being a day scholar in school and college, I had never been on my own, every meal was served on my plate right on time and I was choosy! I would love to have fried dishes but grumbled about many other! In my first job I was put in a place were there was no good food! That day I realized how mom’s food was a blessing everyday and how I had forgotten to appreciate it. When I was back home, my mom was surprised to see me eat everything that was served on my plate without a word.
When we are blessed with the same things everyday, we stop noticing them,
When we stop noticing, we quit appreciating.
When we quit appreciating, we stop thanking.
When we stop thanking, we start complaining!!
While I was complainer who stopped thanking and got the wake up call, there are another set of complainers who are called prisoners of situation.
There once was a construction worker who had a certain complaining habit. Here is how the story goes.
Monday at noon he opened his lunch bag and saw a sandwich. He ate that for Lunch.
On Tuesday at noon, he opened his lunch bag again and saw another sandwich. He was a bit annoyed but he ate it.
On Wednesday at noon guess what happened. He saw the same sandwich again. Now he began to complain. “Another Sandwich!!!”
Thursday came and once again he screamed “Another Sandwich, Another Sandwich if I see this thing again tomorrow I may have to kill myself!”
Friday the same thing happened and as he kept screaming “A Sandwich, another Sandwich!” one of his coworkers said “Hey, why don’t you tell your wife to stop packing all these Sandwiches for you.”
His reply was ” Hey you leave my wife out of this! You leave my wife out of this! I pack my own lunch!!!!”
Some may say that no one could be that stupid yet many times we are like that man.
You’re probably saying to yourself there is no way you can be that dumb.
How many people today keep complaining about their present situation and they are doing absolutely nothing about it. They are just like that man. Some people keep complaining about their jobs but they aren’t even sending out a resume to get another one. Some people keep complaining about their teachers who can’t seem to teach well but they aren’t even looking to get some extra lessons to help them.
Exquisite is not going to take you anywhere. We create our own sandwich in our lives and if we don’t do anything about it, it will remain with us for the rest of our lives.
Ladies and gentlemen, strive to change what can be changed while you praise and appreciate what you already have.
As a wise man said,
“Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, we learned a little and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so let us be thankful”
-Aashish
(Winning speech on 3rd feb 2013, Chennai speakers forum)
Why do we complain so much? Why do we grumble?
Do you remember? One month back, during the first meeting of this year, we sweated it out in another hall in the same floor because the AC was not effective there. How many of you appreciated the comfort of this hall at that moment? How many?
Do we recognize the value of things only when we don’t have it? How many of us appreciate and praise things around us?
These questions take me to my childhood. There was a time I used to travel to school by public transport and had to run all the way to catch the bus at 7.30. I complained about the overcrowded and less frequent buses without knowing that there were children who walked barefooted to schools far away from their homes.
Further, being a day scholar in school and college, I had never been on my own, every meal was served on my plate right on time and I was choosy! I would love to have fried dishes but grumbled about many other! In my first job I was put in a place were there was no good food! That day I realized how mom’s food was a blessing everyday and how I had forgotten to appreciate it. When I was back home, my mom was surprised to see me eat everything that was served on my plate without a word.
When we are blessed with the same things everyday, we stop noticing them,
When we stop noticing, we quit appreciating.
When we quit appreciating, we stop thanking.
When we stop thanking, we start complaining!!
While I was complainer who stopped thanking and got the wake up call, there are another set of complainers who are called prisoners of situation.
There once was a construction worker who had a certain complaining habit. Here is how the story goes.
Monday at noon he opened his lunch bag and saw a sandwich. He ate that for Lunch.
On Tuesday at noon, he opened his lunch bag again and saw another sandwich. He was a bit annoyed but he ate it.
On Wednesday at noon guess what happened. He saw the same sandwich again. Now he began to complain. “Another Sandwich!!!”
Thursday came and once again he screamed “Another Sandwich, Another Sandwich if I see this thing again tomorrow I may have to kill myself!”
Friday the same thing happened and as he kept screaming “A Sandwich, another Sandwich!” one of his coworkers said “Hey, why don’t you tell your wife to stop packing all these Sandwiches for you.”
His reply was ” Hey you leave my wife out of this! You leave my wife out of this! I pack my own lunch!!!!”
Some may say that no one could be that stupid yet many times we are like that man.
You’re probably saying to yourself there is no way you can be that dumb.
How many people today keep complaining about their present situation and they are doing absolutely nothing about it. They are just like that man. Some people keep complaining about their jobs but they aren’t even sending out a resume to get another one. Some people keep complaining about their teachers who can’t seem to teach well but they aren’t even looking to get some extra lessons to help them.
Exquisite is not going to take you anywhere. We create our own sandwich in our lives and if we don’t do anything about it, it will remain with us for the rest of our lives.
Ladies and gentlemen, strive to change what can be changed while you praise and appreciate what you already have.
As a wise man said,
“Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, we learned a little and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so let us be thankful”
-Aashish
(Winning speech on 3rd feb 2013, Chennai speakers forum)
