A lesson learnt

Life teaches us her lessons in so many different ways. Sometimes you learn by experience - your own or others, sometimes by failure or sometimes through some friend or stranger.

I learnt a lesson today... and I learnt it from a friend! Amit shared a beautiful story with me today in response to my 'Why Me!!!' blog series. It's his version of the story of tennis superstar Arthur Ashe and his take on life. It surely is a must-read for any of you who has 'ditto'-ed (or will 'ditto' in the future) my thoughts on 'Why Me!!!'.

Here's what Amit had to say...
The story is as follows.. it is in my own words since I do not have the original story... but the essence is well captured. I guess you can take the learning from this... this is MY FAVOURITE STORY !!!

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Arthur Ashe was a 3 time Grand Slam winnner (including the Wimbledon in 1975) who was later on diagonised with HIV in 1988, to which he eventually succumbed in 1993. Given that he was an extremely popular man, he used to get all kinds of fan mail when he was in hospital. One day, he received a letter from a woman asking, amongst other things, 'Why did God have to chose you for this dreaded disease?????'

To which, Arthur answered as follows: (again the numbers might not be accurate)
'Nearly 500,000 kids start playing tennis year...
Of which, about 5000 reach the proffessional level of tennis
Of which, only 128 are good enough to play in Wimbledon
Of which, only 2 reach the final
Of which, only 1 wins the coveted Wimbledon trophy'
So each year, out of the lakhs of kids that take up tennis, only 1 is chosen by God to win Wimbledon.

So when I was standing on Centre Court in Wimbledon all those years back holding aloft the men's singles champion trophy, did I look up to the heavens and ask God, "Why me????"


Here's what I said in reply...

Hey Amit,

Thanks for sharing the story with me.

Truly touching and definitely teaches me to take things as they come in true sportsman spirit.

I fully agree that life balances the positives we have with a few not so positive moments. It takes a lot of grit to accept that reality and move on with life.

I started off my 'Why Me!!!' blog only because I also believe that to 'move on' despite all odds you need to shed them away instead of holding onto them. Sharing stuff with friends and well-wishers will only attract sympathy and philosophy. 'Why Me!!!' gives me my own personal space to yell out as loudly as I can without still being heard :). Has helped me vent out my 'gussa' through my writing and makes me feel a lot lot lighter.

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Thanks Amit for letting me put this up here. I'm sure it'll somehow impact those who spend some time around 'Why Me!!!'

Drenched :)

I stepped out of office last evening and there was a slight drizzle. Out of the blue... coz it was pretty warm through the day. Obviously I wasn't carrying an umbrella.

By the time I reached my office gate it started raining heavily. I had to cover a 5 minute walk to the railway station. The dupatta played saving grace cum style statement (I love draping the dupatta over the head - for the shy good girl effect it creates :P). Not to mention I was completely wet by the time I got to the station.

I've always hated getting wet in the rain... would have smirked at myself last evening and thought I found one more for the 'Why Me' series :).

But somehow I enjoyed the rains last evening. Didn't mind getting wet in the rain at all. Hmmm... just brought back some memories that almost made me forget that I was wet and drenched. Cribby me forgot that am supposed to crib about it!!!

Just read some 90-10 principle by self-help guru Stephen Covey. According to him 10% of life is made up of what happens to us and 90% of life is decided by how you react! He goes on to say that we have no control over 10% of what happens to us but the rest of the 90% depends entirely on how we react to that 10%. Guess the rains and getting wet in it was the 10%... and am glad I controlled the remaining 90% by not cribbing and sulking. What a fantastic parallel I've drawn :P

If Mr. Covey reads this blog he'll probably think he has been successful with his gyaan!!! Watch out Mr. Covey... I'll be back to cribbing and 'Why Me'-ing... coz every day is not a rainy day!!!