Happiness is Just Within our Grasp

As an adult, we sometimes envy the joyous laughter of children around us. We seem to carry the burden of the whole world that sometimes we augt to wish to go back being a kid even for once. To escape the reality of life and live without worries, be carefree and anxious-free of the world.

We deprived ourselves from our own happiness by dwelling too much of what we think is weighing us down.

Let's take a look on the story of a girl who never realized the happiness she's been looking for was just within herself. A girl who thought she lived a miserable life until she received a second opinion.

Her name's Chen. A girl who was born and raised in a fairly well-off family in China. Her sister was beautiful and an excellent student. Every parent-teacher meeting made their parents indescribably proud of her. However, Chen seemed to be stuck with misfortune. She had small eyes and a snubby nose, and her grades were mediocre. She called herself "an ugly duckling" and wondered how could her parents bring her out into this world when they had given birth to her beautiful sister.

Their parents never said anything about it (one thing she's still thankful of). But her sense of inferiority made a striking contrast tp her lively and outgoing sister. She selfom spoke and unwilling to talk with others. She busied herself with books and poured her heart out to her diary, hiding herseld to a world of her own. For sometime, she felt she was the unluckiest girl to ever lived.

Letters of hope

In 1995 she was admitted to a military academy in Guangzhou, in Southern China. Her team was linked to village school in Western Hunan Province in a "Hand-in-Hand, Heart-to-Heart" campaign, where they sent financial aid to poor pupils. In response to the call from their school, she perfunctorily or uninterestedly sent 100 yuan to a ten-year old girl. Little did she expected that she would get a letter from her shortly.

In the letter, the girl expressed her profound gratitude with enthusiasm Chen didn't anticipate. The girl also told about their life.They were five in the family. Her family's sole income came from a patch of land and some fruit trees. They led a difficult life, yet all three children were eager for a chance to study. She also added that being the eldest sibling she couldn't have stayed in school without Chen's help. The girl also vowed to repay her kindness by dedicating herself to her studies.

Enclosed in the letter was a photo of the girl with her siblings. She was a slight figure and looked as if the mildest wind would sweep her off her feet. Yet her big eyes revealed hope and anticipation. It can also be noticed that their clothing were the type of old-fashioned clothes that the city people had stopped wearing a long time ago.

Chen grew up never having to worry about food or clothing, and perhaps gotten used to the comfort of urban living. She could hardly believe that such way of life still exists.

She failed to see it

Every now and then, letters from the girl would reach Chen, with reports of her study and her life. She wanted very much to do something for the child, who was so eager about the future. She began to change her spendthrift ways, budgeting her money carefully instead. She sent regular remittances to the girl and copied out adages and quotes for her. All of a sudden, her life seemed to have become meaningful.

After Chen sent the girl a photo of her family, she sent a reply.

"How I admire you!" she wrote. " You study in a big city, and you have a happy family. You must be happy!"

Upon reading it, Chen felt dumbstruck. In the girl's eyes she was a happy girl. She asked herself why all those years she failed to see the happiness that was with her. She realized that she may not be pretty or all that outstanding, yet she grew up without having to care about the basic necessities of life . She had a good education in a spacious and bright classroom. Yet under the same blue sky, how many children have to struggle against the threats of war, hunger and disease? She realized how insignificant all of her self-pity was. The letter from the girl forced her to realise happiness had always been with her.

Later on she stumbled upon a passage written by Helen Keller, saying she once complained because she had no shoes until she met a man with no feet. These words had her deepened her understanding of the true meaning of happiness.

She said to herself that " I shall be a happy ugly duckling, if an ugly duckling I am."

Closing thoughts

People are dealing with different problems. Problems that made us see life in different perspectives. Learn to face it and conquer it because if you let yourself linger on such very light things then you will find yourself miserable. Be contented and grateful of what you have ans try to see the happiness in it. In fact, happiness is the scrutiny and discovery of life. Most often than not, happiness is just within our grasp but we ignore it because we're seeing things on just some part of the picture and not considering everything as a whole.

05-15-21

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