Eat, Pray, Love
I watched "Eat, Pray, Love" ! Like Liz, don't we all sail in the same boat ? How many times I would have thought to just get over with work and pack my bags one day and explore with my camera. An effort to document my life and life has to offer me. I wanted to live in shacks, like a simple man, with dreams to write and wonder at things I have never seen. I wanted to live life, far from these high tech jargon !
I wanted to live life like a two year old, wondering at simple things which I now take it for granted.
Then I thought, why not spend one day in my week and may be, try to live like that. Why not spend a day with no plans, like, take a bus and get down at some place random. Talk to strangers and learn something new. Walk, hike and do something which makes me happy. Or just plain people watching. Or Document my travel and create a photo log.
So I sat by the coffee shop which is frequented my tourists in San Francisco. I sipped my coffee and I just watched people around. And then I noticed an old man in his sixties feeding doves. He bought a bagel and broke into small chunks of bread, and started feeding doves. He was shooing away all the doves except one. And I keep thinking, what did the other bird do to him ? So out of curiosity I just watched him feed the dove.
Later he walked to me, and asked me to feed the doves as he had to leave. And he told me to feed one specific dove. I asked him "Why?". "Well, that dove doesn't have a leg" he answered. Why did I not see that ? I asked myself. And for the next five minutes I fed the dove with the broken leg and kept thinking to myself, Why did I not see what he saw. I finished feeding the doves and once they have had their meal they flew away.
I went back to my chair and realized that humanity is still alive. People are good and compasionate. They notice things which I don't notice. And then came a homeless man, and I gave the rest of the bagel to him. The next time I go to the coffee shop, I will feed the doves, in a hope to meet the one legged dove again. May be I'll inspire the other person to feed the needy. And I realized, how this simple act of compassion can make ones day. A story to tell, a post to write.
And in my opinion, I think, that, I can still be here, and can discover things, if I put an effort to notice things just like the old man did. And by doing that, I can make my mundane life interesting. I can be happy by doing simple things in life. I can be content by helping the needy.
And in their smile, I'll see god...