" The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty. it's twice as big as it needs to be". – Unknown.
We had a major power crisis in north India recently. I feel a handful of people would conserve power more and a few states will improve their power infrastructure due to this. The blackout almost seems cool looking this way… right? Our minds are easily programmed to remember the bad events easily compared to the good that transpire. So we can easily use them to our advantage by learning something out of them :).
Having a sibling that loves Animal Planet means you enjoy your dinner watching bugs on T.V (sarcasm). One such dinner I saw a clip that depicted how the minuscule plankton in the sea support the mighty blue whale. How each entity has it's special purpose in the food chain irrespective of it's size. The narrator comments that man seems to have no specific purpose from this point of view. She reasons that this implies that our sole role is to protect nature. I was impressed with this reasoning and soon chose to be more eco-friendly. (Means I yell when my mom gets plastic and force family to quit newspaper)
To reduce my carbon footprint, I travel by bus or cycle within the city. One morning, I got into a crowded bus and the conductor was arguing with a passenger. I gave him my 50Rs and asked for a pass. In his angry mood he rejected the note saying it is taped. I had more money in my bag so I took it off to search. I found a 100 after groping for a while and gave it to him. The Ticket Checker ( TC, whose job is to fine miscreants ) came at that very moment and the conductor returned my money stating that he finished his documentation. To my horror, the TC asks me to pay a fine for travelling without a ticket. The conductor vouched against me and I ended up paying a fine. It was humiliating because some random argument ended with me being the prey. Later, I gave the conductor the same note and ironically he accepted it. He apologized saying that he was scared of being penalized if he had supported me. I was disappointed for his apathy. A voice in my head said "It's easy to believe that he scammed you but it's hard to believe he was genuinely paranoid. Choose the hard path". I used this incident as a lesson to empathize more. (Who is this voice I wonder :P)
A couple of days later, I caught a relatively empty bus. I found a seat and started reading a novel. A few pages later, I found myself in a random locality and upon inquiring the conductor I found out that it does not go to my stop! (WTF! I thought there was only one route for buses from there :P). I immediately got down and started walking towards umm… nowhere. The conductor called me back and advised to get down at Ring Road. He even directed on how to proceed when the stop came. Now, I was shocked at his empathy.
We face low level problems and make a big deal about it. We don't take the time to empathize with the others in the situation. In the first incident the the conductor was insecure and could not empathize with me. I have been a proponent of positive thinking and I feel it's easy to be positive when things go your way but it takes real mettle to do so when the situation seems bleak. The medicine is always bitter they say. Maybe every bad incident occurs to teach us a very good lesson… Both events taught me to empathize more, one negatively and the other positively. I learnt that I should empathize more because It harms if I fail thanks the first incident. I learnt that small acts of kindness can leave a long lasting impression thanks to the second incident ..( BMTC Ftw m/ )
What I learnt….
- Get a Wallet
- Avoid crowded buses
- Learn good lessons from minor incidents
The Munday Diaries 