Joy of Giving - Card 2 - Week 2 - Just Someone

The Joy of Giving just keeps reaching out...


Just Someone - Has been a reader and supporter of this blog for ever. Today he sent me his letter with a short paragraph for his parents. With his permission I am publishing both.

From Just Someone to .....

I love and respect my mother and my father immensly, always indebted to them for what they have done for me, for making me what I am, for teaching me values. However as someone who spent a major part of his childhoold alone and way, I grew not to be 'attached'. By not writing a letter to them, I am not denigrating their vital role in my life.

However I choose to write to a friend , who has been there for me till now... simple...

Letter

To a wonderful human being whose indubitable character and strength has illuminated my life.

I donot know if there is a card for ‘the person’ who has had an impact on your life. So I am writing about this friend … 

Love : You can love and accept people , welcome them into the realm of friendship without judging them in any way – a rare quality, the very reason, a serendipitous meeting  for me evolved into an unceasing blissful experience – for life – for me ( again ).

Thank you for extending a hand of friendship to a total stranger and then being a pillar of strength during the journey of life.  Even a few moments of company would swathe you with the warmth exuded by this person,  that your pains would recede and you would smile. This I know for sure is something that other friends too have experienced.

Strength : All of us go through tough times in our lives. How we react to it, how well we can get a handle on the situation decides how we move forward. I have been lucky to be in the company of someone who has shown me how to sieve out strength, to find a solution in the most enervating situations. Thank you for being there, making me believe in myself, think clearly and guiding me away from baneful decisions. Even when going through personal troubles, you would devote time to my problems and respond vicariously.

From you, I have learnt ( to try ) to be sincere and compassionate even in the smallest things that I do. ‘Don’t do something  or don’t say something if you don’t mean it ‘ are the words that I have often heard and seen being followed by this person. And yes this has helped me think, before I speak or act (though its not easy to follow always ) – even if it’s a very ‘casual’ promise about an ice cream to my kids. In profession, I have seen this person set aside personal priorities, to honor a commitment given. And if its not possible to meet an agreed deadline, then be upfront about it, totally obviating the common ploy of finding an ‘excuse’.

I have learnt from you, that speaking truth and not massaging egos , earns you respect. It takes a lot of spunk to confront ‘power’. I admire you for never backing down when your affirmations are challenged by the ‘stalwarts’ and the ‘powerful’. Never a nebulous moment in putting your thoughts across.

I can’t thank you enough for opening the minds of my kids to me. For teaching me to think like they do, for teaching me that children can always forgive you, for teaching me that ‘doing’ things for them are not enough – that I should make them emotionally connect to me, for teaching me that I should keep the promises that I make to them. You brought about a change in me, that made ( is making ) my children grow attached to me. It’s a wonderful feeling….

Your affection and warmth to the ones close to you, your concern for them , makes me that wish I could be a parent, a sibling ,a spouse and a progeny like you.

You have the witty knack of making the most simple tasks sound complex ( to make a cup of coffee – Oh I have to get up from where I am, switch on the kitchen lights, open the cupboard, locate the jar of coffee powder, wash a spoon, then wipe it dry, put the pan on the gas, measure water and pour it, wait till it boils, take out the milk from the refrigerator and warm it up, wash the cups, pour the hot water into the cups, filter the milk….. phew – I would say no thank you , I know its so difficult to make coffee , lets forget it )  and the most difficult tasks sound simple ( Oh I just have to drive a little - 80km - to collect information for the charity organization I am working for, since they don’t have anyone else to do it for them…. ). A trick I am still trying to learn from you, to be used at the opportune moments.

I can go on… but my limited writing skills are a constraint…. A mere thank you is not enough for you friend…

I close my eyes for a few seconds… the darkness that I experience then… Life would be like that without you…

Though I am good at poetry, I choose to take a shortcut and dedicate this to you…