WHY Me

Thomas Edison tried two thousand different materials in search of a filament for the light bulb. When none worked satisfactorily, his assistant complained, “All our work is in vain. We have learned nothing. And above all why us” Edison replied very confidently, “Oh, we have come a long way and we have learned a lot. We know that there are two thousand elements which we cannot use to make a good light bulb.” Raise your hands if you ever faced obstacles in life? Raise your hands if you changed your perspectives to solve a problem, or overcome an obstacle in life? Dear Toastmasters and Guests Good afternoon. Life is all about perspectives. It’s about the way we look at it. It’s about the way we see it. For a pessimist the glass might be half empty, for an optimist it might be half full and for a realist if you drink the half one, you can replenish it again… Here is a small story about perspectives. One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son, quite a young child, brimming with curiosity, understanding the ways of life, questioning and looking around the world with pinch of surprise, on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live. They spent a couple of days visiting various poor and underprivileged families. They played in the dirty waters flowing around in the small streams near the village side. They spent few nights on the farm that had no electricity, no Facebook, no twitters to share the selfies and photos. At the end of the trip father says to his son, “you know son, how privileged you are. Each family here asks day and night – why us?” The boy was quiet. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, “How was the trip?” “It was great, Dad.” “Did you see how poor people live?” the father asked. “Oh yeah,” said the son. “So, tell me, what you learned from the trip?” asked the father. The son answered: “I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. “We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. “We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. “We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.” The boy’s father was speechless. Then his son added, “Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are- and why us”… Dear All, What did you understand from the above story? What we consider as a privilege may not be a privilege for someone else. Often when we face obstacles in our day-to-day life, our hurdles seem very small in comparison to what many others have to face. The boy’s mindset shows us that it’s the attitude that matters. When Edison came across certain obstacles all he had was positive attitude towards life. Never give up mentality that kept him going. In our daily lives, we share common experiences with friends, coworkers, lovers, and complete strangers we cross on the street. But these experiences are rarely as similar as we expect them to be. A guy likes a girl’s photo. For her it’s just another like button. A girl likes a guy’s photo. For him it may be beginning of a romantic story. Our parent’s strict police code, to our parents, its good parenting, but to us, its oppression/intrusion. When obstacle hit our path – we may ask ‘why me’? Just imagine the great scientist Stephen Hawking who was given 2 years to live in 1963 due to his disease, instead of asking why me, he asked why not me and he is one of the greatest scientist who is living with us today and contributing to the science. It’s important that we see things differently. Because eventually our different visions mesh together. Positive change transpires in all of our lives. So always instead of asking why me…say, why not me.