In Celebration of Being Alive - Dr Christian Barnard

When i was in my tenth class, there was a very touching lesson in my English text book. The lesson is aptly titled "In celebration of Being Alive".Its a story by Dr Christian Bernard( Yes!The first person to perform a heart transplantation ).The title sounds magical right? Well, its even more magical to think about the story for a while. I was so moved by this lesson at that time, but indeed understanding its deeper meanings as days are passing by. Now i feel like sharing it here.

Dr Christian Bernard narrates some of the most influencing experiences of his life.The story goes like this.The doctor and his wife met with a severe accident, he had his ribs broken and his wife was also severly hurt. He was in the hospital. There were many children in his hospital, some whose legs had been amputated, some who had a tumour and had to undergo painful surgeries and so on. One day, a blind boy and his friend who did not have a leg were playing a push-cart game. The disabled boy was sitting on the cart and steering it, while the blind boy was pushing it. Dr.Bernard, who was observing these children, was surprised to see that the children were very happy, and playful inspite of their misery!

He says that the kids had taught him that the business of living is  JOY, in the real sense of the word.Not simply pleasure, amusement, recreation... but more a CELEBRATION OF BEING ALIVE.

One of the best quotes from the lesson is
"We cannot appreciate light unless we have seen darkness nor can we appreciate warmth unless we have experienced cold!"

The lesson ends with the conclusion that suffering is a part of life and suffering makes an individual stronger and stronger. Well, how many of us actually think in this manner when we are in problems? Infact, sometimes we lead our life so mechanically that we forget to be ourselves and enjoy life in the true sense. If we spend a moment to sit back and think how good our life is, rather than how many problems we have, we would understand how better we are when compared to several people in the world who dont get atleast square meals a day, who dont have shelter, who dont have basic needs of life.There are many who are orphaned by birth. There are many who suffer from so dreadly diseases that every minute is miserable to them. Isn't our life atleast a bit better than theirs? The point to grasp is- every one of us have our own problems. And the beauty of life is to experience, learn, stand up each time we fall down and CELEBRATE every moment !This is optimism at its highest level. God has designed everybodys life very carefully and we are to learn, experience and celebrate for being alive. Life is just a series of experiences. Lets learn to celebrate every experience, every moment, every breath of life and live in JOY.