THE SMILE SAYS IT ALL
You aren’t a human if you have never exclaimed, “Why does this always happen to me!”
Years and generations have passed, but the same question repeats itself from every frowned tongue. And yet the irony, no one has ever found an answer.
While I am also a curious being, the hiccups in my life, too, are at par with others. After reaching the not-so-good side of the twenties, one thing I learned is we forget about the older struggle when a bigger one arrives and knocks at our doorstep. We gather all our attention and energy towards a brand new situation and sigh out loud — Why God? Why always me?
Do you know what God does? He smiles. He just sarcastically smiles. And his smile can have numerous meanings. I, too, did find one. He smiles on our inability to understand the situation and rather complain about it. He smiles because we were no exception when he wasn’t.
For instance, I take Lord Krishna to our rescue. Remember, he is the naughtiest and the happiest of the lot? The one with lots of knowledge to impart either in the form of Bhagwat Gita or through his stories of how tactfully he always got through what he wished for. Well, this is what we assumed.
Deeply thinking about it… none had a childhood as difficult as his. Lord Krishna was born in a prison cell, and being a month’s baby, he had to fight all the demons, and limitless attempts of murder as his maternal uncle wanted him dead. While he knew what was destined for everyone, he had to fight for his destiny, acknowledging he couldn’t change any. Lord Krishna had to struggle to see his beloved nephew Abhimanyu, whom he trained to die an unfair death for the sake of humanity. Although we speak about him having so many love affairs and married to thousands of women, he couldn’t pursue the love of his life- Radha. He had to watch every single member of his family, his clan in Dwarka, die fighting amongst each other, but could do nothing. While he too was killed by a hunter, he gave up as he was born and as he lived — with a beatific smile upon his face.
For 125 years of his life, Krishna had to face countless hardships. And apart from those, he has to hear our complaints every single second. About how my mixer stopped working while I was experimenting with a smoothie? About why is my mom texting me goodnight? About why I couldn’t get a first-class ticket to my holiday destination? And Why always me?
Imagine if he would have complained about not being able to deal with his problems, let alone ours! How would it be to have a gloomy friend who is depressed about being heartbroken and you going to her and complain about not getting a text response from your boyfriend? You would dare not do that. You would dare not touch a burning vessel filled with water about to spill.
But he listens. He patiently listens to all our complaints. He gives us the power to deal with a problem and get ready for a bigger challenge but not crib about it again. But we are so human to see that.
When God himself had to lead a life of hardships incomparable to ours, how can we complain? And thus, he smiled, which meant — Deal on your own. You are no special.
The next time anyone comes to me with a problem, I will lend an ear and help them cope up, but not hang in there with a glass of beer saying — this is nothing, bro, I have bigger issues to deal with.
I learned to share happiness and not sorrows. You will grow old with sparkling memories and want to be remembered as a lively and witty person, but not as someone with a never-ending list of issues. Fight it, forget it… but care not to breed on it.
