26°C outside officially marks the beginning of summer! (Yup!, no matter what the calendar says). We enjoy every second because we never know how many of those we are gonna get this year :-).
I had a serious debate with myself this morning on whether to or not to wear my light blue dress.
"Jeez, this dress is going to expose my horrible legs!!!" was my initial thought.
Well, if you´ve seen my legs then you most definitely understand what i mean. I have thin short legs. I mean so thin that a friend of mine once referred to them as `hockey sticks`! So whenever i dress up i´m always cautious of that.
The same was the case today morning, until i remembered a story someone told me sometimes back:
"There once lived a teenage boy called Kim. Kim was around 14 years of age. He lived with his parents at the suburbs of Nairobi. His parents were not wealthy, but they offered him an average life and saved whenever they could to take Kim to the best schools Kenya could offer. "The best education is the only good thing that we can give our brilliant son", his parents always reminded him. Most children in good schools in Kenya come from wealthy families (remember my corruption post!?), and so Kim always felt as an outsider in his school. He almost felt ashamed of his family.
Other children parents would come in their Mercedes and BMW's during visiting days, whereas Kim's parents would come on foot if they missed the matatu. Other parents would bring noodles and chicken, whereas all Kim's parents brought him was some Mukomo and stew. While the other children carried crates of soda, he would take his parents to drink tap water from the dinning hall. He wanted to fit in so badly. He would intentionally forget to tell his parents when the visiting day was to avoid the embarrassment.
For Christmas that year, he only had one wish. He wanted the Nike sneakers that every cool kid was wearing. He wanted these shoes so badly that he would plead with his parents day in day out. "We will see what we can do," his mother would tell him. "We need to get your school fees together first," his dad would add.
So Christmas came and Kim got a different kind of shoes which was much cheaper. He was deeply disappointed. So disappointing that he didn't want to live anymore. He ran upstairs to his room and wanted to jump out of the window to end his agony.
Only on opening the window he heard loud voices singing `Aaasanteee Yesu, kwa yote umenitendea...` = `Thank you Jesus for what you have given me...´.
Looking down he saw two people singing. It was a young woman and a boy. The woman sat and after a better glimpse he could see that her legs were truncated at the knees, and the little boy standing next to him was blind. They were playing jungle instruments and singing to the top of their voice how grateful they were.
"Look at them, what could they be possibly grateful for? They are disabled, jobless, homeless...etc" Kim thought to himself, as he closed the window feeling really ashamed for wanting to end his life just because he didn't get a certain kind of shoes. "I´m the luckiest boy in the whole world" he thought to himself. He ran down the stairs and gave both his parents a big hug and a warm thank you as he grabbed the shoes and took them to the blind little boy outside."
So today i decided to be grateful for my hockey stick legs. "There is someone somewhere who does not even have legs," i thought to myself and wore my light blue dress with full confident.
With the same spirit, i urge you to be content and grateful for whatever it is you have. Short legs, bad hair, 11 figure, double chin, cracked feet, dry skin, drum-stick fingers...anything!
You have no idea how many people would love to take your position.
Enjoy the sunny days while appreciating what you have!
Lots of luv
ItsRose_Beth
I had a serious debate with myself this morning on whether to or not to wear my light blue dress.
"Jeez, this dress is going to expose my horrible legs!!!" was my initial thought.
Well, if you´ve seen my legs then you most definitely understand what i mean. I have thin short legs. I mean so thin that a friend of mine once referred to them as `hockey sticks`! So whenever i dress up i´m always cautious of that.
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| Rome, 2015 Photo by Tobi |
The same was the case today morning, until i remembered a story someone told me sometimes back:
"There once lived a teenage boy called Kim. Kim was around 14 years of age. He lived with his parents at the suburbs of Nairobi. His parents were not wealthy, but they offered him an average life and saved whenever they could to take Kim to the best schools Kenya could offer. "The best education is the only good thing that we can give our brilliant son", his parents always reminded him. Most children in good schools in Kenya come from wealthy families (remember my corruption post!?), and so Kim always felt as an outsider in his school. He almost felt ashamed of his family.
Other children parents would come in their Mercedes and BMW's during visiting days, whereas Kim's parents would come on foot if they missed the matatu. Other parents would bring noodles and chicken, whereas all Kim's parents brought him was some Mukomo and stew. While the other children carried crates of soda, he would take his parents to drink tap water from the dinning hall. He wanted to fit in so badly. He would intentionally forget to tell his parents when the visiting day was to avoid the embarrassment.
For Christmas that year, he only had one wish. He wanted the Nike sneakers that every cool kid was wearing. He wanted these shoes so badly that he would plead with his parents day in day out. "We will see what we can do," his mother would tell him. "We need to get your school fees together first," his dad would add.
So Christmas came and Kim got a different kind of shoes which was much cheaper. He was deeply disappointed. So disappointing that he didn't want to live anymore. He ran upstairs to his room and wanted to jump out of the window to end his agony.
Only on opening the window he heard loud voices singing `Aaasanteee Yesu, kwa yote umenitendea...` = `Thank you Jesus for what you have given me...´.
Looking down he saw two people singing. It was a young woman and a boy. The woman sat and after a better glimpse he could see that her legs were truncated at the knees, and the little boy standing next to him was blind. They were playing jungle instruments and singing to the top of their voice how grateful they were.
"Look at them, what could they be possibly grateful for? They are disabled, jobless, homeless...etc" Kim thought to himself, as he closed the window feeling really ashamed for wanting to end his life just because he didn't get a certain kind of shoes. "I´m the luckiest boy in the whole world" he thought to himself. He ran down the stairs and gave both his parents a big hug and a warm thank you as he grabbed the shoes and took them to the blind little boy outside."
So today i decided to be grateful for my hockey stick legs. "There is someone somewhere who does not even have legs," i thought to myself and wore my light blue dress with full confident.
With the same spirit, i urge you to be content and grateful for whatever it is you have. Short legs, bad hair, 11 figure, double chin, cracked feet, dry skin, drum-stick fingers...anything!
You have no idea how many people would love to take your position.
Enjoy the sunny days while appreciating what you have!
Lots of luv
ItsRose_Beth
hahaha "hockey sticks" really? anyway the message finally struck home.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad it didn't end up being my nickname :-)
ReplyDeleteLovely post as always honey!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
T.
https://tbymallano.wordpress.com/