I’m getting butterflies in my belly as I order supplies and sort my stuff to pack before heading back to the United States of America soon!!! I haven’t seen my family in a year. This is the longest I’ve been away from my baby girl and I’m feeling a wave of emotions flow through me. Living in a third-world country for the past year has really changed my entire perspective on everything.
There have been a lot of moments that have impressed upon me; moments of amazement at how folks here in India live on a daily basis. I’ve seen houses literally made of mud with grass roofs. I’ve seen people here washing clothes by hand and beating them on cement. I’ve seen women here carrying loads on the top of their heads that most women in my country couldn’t carry with two hands. Driving past fields in the early morning and watching the farmers honor their animal, giving it an early morning bath by hand. But, aside from the many spiritual blessings I have received int his country, the moment that has left the biggest impression on me is when I was in Tirruvanamalia with my friend, Caz.
We had stopped at a shop to get some fruit and water for morning. An elderly, emaciated woman approached us. Most of her teeth were missing and her clothes were dull and tattered. She motioned to ask for money. My friend, not having any cash (or food) on her, handed this woman all she had to offer in that moment; a half-used bottle of warm water. I was so shocked at what I saw next. If some stranger came up to me in my home town asking for money and I handed him a half-used up bottle of warm water that I’d been carrying around and drinking from all day (and probably back-washed my lunch into), that stranger would look at me like I was from Pluto. But this woman? I’ve never seen anything like it. Her face lit up like she was three years old on Christmas morning! She graciously accepted the bottle and was visibly elated!
You see, to this woman, it wasn’t just a bottle of water. That old, thin plastic bottle? It was a prize in and of itself. It was tool. She could use it to transport water or soap. She could use it to bathe with. She could use it to store things. It was a prized possession, not a common house hold item. Seeing someone so full of gratitude for a used up, warm bottle of water? This one moment, it was just a few seconds; a flicker of a moment in time.. but it changed my life forever. It made me realize all of the little things in every single day that I have to be grateful for in this life. It made me think, what if I were so poor, that a used up, warm bottle of water was like gold to me?
Today, I get down on my knees and humbly bow down to my divine, filled with so much gratitude that tears trace tracks on my cheeks, and give thanks for this experience, and for the realization of all the things big and small, that I have to be grateful for every single hour of every single day that I am alive on this Earth. Thank you, God.
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Much love and many blessings to you!
Jodi
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Very inspiring. But ones eyes are closed over here. It is no different. We just react different. This a story of a man who has lived the life since 2002 of not having the comforts of electricity. Nor of gas to heat or cook with. He couldn’t afford to pay his bills. So he takes cold bathes and showers during the months it isn’t cold enough to freeze. During the months to stay warm he uses a big kerosene stove that vents in the chimney. He puts four 2.5 gallon buckets of water on top of it and lights the stove about a hour before going to bed. There is much more to that part but that is the basics. He uses propane lighting part of the time and has been able to move to a small scale solar system. Cooks rather on a grill or with a Colman camp stove. When he got the notice his gas and electric was going to be turned off his thinking was not of panic but that of survival. You see he uses the propane stove he grew up 9 years knowing on the farm that he watched his dad light in the winter. He utilized the principles his mom did to heat water for the bath tub. It wasn’t on that stove but he adapted the principle to that stove. I know it is not quite as severe as the lady you spoke of more as severe as a person here sleeping on the street and having to learn evens deeper survival techniques but I wonder how many people would be able to realy adapt with out fear. You see I am that man and just go on with life as if it were normal. I don’t tell a lot of people this story and not a lot of people know it other than family and about 8 other people and now you. My experience growing up on the farm 9 years untill my dad transitioned was some of the happiest and simplest times and I learned a lot in that life. You should get with Barbara from the oneness blessing nd Tim when you get back and one evening give a talk on your experience over there.