Count Our Blessing (August 23, 2009)
On 24th July 2007, Huang Chuncai, the China’s “Elephant Man” had his first operation to remove part of his crippling tumours drooping from his face at Guangzhou Fuda Cancer Hospital, China. It was a complicated but successful operation. The wound from the operation healed well.
On 7 January 2008, before his second operation, I went to visit Huang. He could hardly speak to me; the only way he could communicate with me was to use his hands and expressed his feelings through eye contact.
I remember very well how Huang held my hand tightly. He pulled me to sit beside him. He looked at me, with no facial expression, but I could understand him. He kept holding my hand and he was trying to let me understand how grateful for what we had done for him. “After the second operation, can you please bring me to tour Guangzhou and see the beautiful world around?” he asked me. My answer to him was a definite ‘yes.’ “We will bring you to tour Guangzhou city after your operation.” I replied.
After I came out of the room, I started to reflect on my life. I felt deeply sorry for people who made so many complaints and excuses in their life.
We have a tendency to complain; we complain about our life, we complain about our family, we complain about our jobs, and we complain about anything that we are unhappy about.
Let’s look at Huang Chun Cai. He is 34 years old. He carried the humongous tumor with him for nearly thirty years; the tumor got bigger as he grew older. His tumor weighed about 20 Kilogram. The weight of the tumor was equivalent to that of a 6 years old child. He did not complain much about his tumor. Instead he accepted himself as who he was. He told the editor from Channel 4, England,” I have no choice but to accept who I am. I cannot question my mother; I cannot ask why she gave me such a look. My mother had never wanted this happened to me. She has no choice too. I know my mother is in great grief. She sympathies with my condition. Besides feeling sorry, she can do nothing. Instead of feeling sorry for myself, I might as well be happy and just be who I am.”
The Channel 4 film editor went on to ask him “How do you face the people in your village?” He replied “I am who I am; I help my parents to take care of their small grocery shop. The people in my village treat me as a normal person. They never run away whenever they see me walking on the street. But I have no chance to see the city; my parents will never bring me to ride on the bus. This is because they are worried that I may scare away many people in the bus.”
“What do you wish to do after you have recovered from your major operation?”
“I wish to help my parents to work in the farm. They are getting old; I wish to take care of them. I wish to show my gratitude to them as they are the ones who always take care of me. All this while, I hardly work, because my facial tumor grows bigger with time. Whenever I walk, I have to use my two hands to carry the tumor. Whenever I want to eat at the dinning table, I have to put my tumor on the table. It hinders me from moving around. Sometime, I do feel very sad, I want to help my parents, but I cannot.”
Huang possesses beautiful personalities; he could have complained about his life, but he did not. He learns to understand. He could have ended his life by committing suicide because of his abnormal outlook, but he did not. He accepts who he is. He could have portrayed a negative mindset but he did not. Instead he has a positive outlook on life and lives his life to the fullest.
DC Cordova, a motivational teacher of mine from New York met Huang in Guangzhou. She could not stop crying after meeting Huang Chun Cai in person. She told me that she had called her mother and shared with her mother about how she felt. She promised her mother that from then on, she would never complain to her mother that she was not beautiful.
My life perspective changes after knowing Huang. I tell myself that if Huang can, so can I. I should not complain but count all the blessings I have in life. We are truly blessed for what we have in life. Comparison with Huang, I should feel contented with what I have. I should be thankful for having a pleasant look. I should be thankful for who and where I am today.
I begin to realize that the less complaints or grouses we make on life, the more pleasant and enjoyable things we will experience. Life is full of obstacles; do not let them stop us. Just get over with them and move on. Do not be dreadful or being put off by them.
Too often, we define our lives by the bad experiences we have in life. That will limit us and keep us negatively focused. Stop for a moment and recall all the things that are right with our life. Look at the positive side and be sincerely thankful for what we have.
Gratitude is the cornerstone of abundance. In order to attract more blessings that life has to offer, we must truly appreciate and be grateful with what we already have.
We have, within ourselves, all the wealth and abundance that we will ever need. All we have to do is recognize it and put it to use. And that starts with focusing on the positive.
Ask ourselves: what do we enjoy about life? When are we the happiest? What do we do better than anyone else we know of? What gives us a sense of satisfaction? What is our passion? What would we do if our resources were unlimited?
Answer these questions, and we will find the things which we seek in life. Appreciate the things that we have; count our blessings.
On 7 January 2008, before his second operation, I went to visit Huang. He could hardly speak to me; the only way he could communicate with me was to use his hands and expressed his feelings through eye contact.
I remember very well how Huang held my hand tightly. He pulled me to sit beside him. He looked at me, with no facial expression, but I could understand him. He kept holding my hand and he was trying to let me understand how grateful for what we had done for him. “After the second operation, can you please bring me to tour Guangzhou and see the beautiful world around?” he asked me. My answer to him was a definite ‘yes.’ “We will bring you to tour Guangzhou city after your operation.” I replied.
After I came out of the room, I started to reflect on my life. I felt deeply sorry for people who made so many complaints and excuses in their life.
We have a tendency to complain; we complain about our life, we complain about our family, we complain about our jobs, and we complain about anything that we are unhappy about.
Let’s look at Huang Chun Cai. He is 34 years old. He carried the humongous tumor with him for nearly thirty years; the tumor got bigger as he grew older. His tumor weighed about 20 Kilogram. The weight of the tumor was equivalent to that of a 6 years old child. He did not complain much about his tumor. Instead he accepted himself as who he was. He told the editor from Channel 4, England,” I have no choice but to accept who I am. I cannot question my mother; I cannot ask why she gave me such a look. My mother had never wanted this happened to me. She has no choice too. I know my mother is in great grief. She sympathies with my condition. Besides feeling sorry, she can do nothing. Instead of feeling sorry for myself, I might as well be happy and just be who I am.”
The Channel 4 film editor went on to ask him “How do you face the people in your village?” He replied “I am who I am; I help my parents to take care of their small grocery shop. The people in my village treat me as a normal person. They never run away whenever they see me walking on the street. But I have no chance to see the city; my parents will never bring me to ride on the bus. This is because they are worried that I may scare away many people in the bus.”
“What do you wish to do after you have recovered from your major operation?”
“I wish to help my parents to work in the farm. They are getting old; I wish to take care of them. I wish to show my gratitude to them as they are the ones who always take care of me. All this while, I hardly work, because my facial tumor grows bigger with time. Whenever I walk, I have to use my two hands to carry the tumor. Whenever I want to eat at the dinning table, I have to put my tumor on the table. It hinders me from moving around. Sometime, I do feel very sad, I want to help my parents, but I cannot.”
Huang possesses beautiful personalities; he could have complained about his life, but he did not. He learns to understand. He could have ended his life by committing suicide because of his abnormal outlook, but he did not. He accepts who he is. He could have portrayed a negative mindset but he did not. Instead he has a positive outlook on life and lives his life to the fullest.
DC Cordova, a motivational teacher of mine from New York met Huang in Guangzhou. She could not stop crying after meeting Huang Chun Cai in person. She told me that she had called her mother and shared with her mother about how she felt. She promised her mother that from then on, she would never complain to her mother that she was not beautiful.
My life perspective changes after knowing Huang. I tell myself that if Huang can, so can I. I should not complain but count all the blessings I have in life. We are truly blessed for what we have in life. Comparison with Huang, I should feel contented with what I have. I should be thankful for having a pleasant look. I should be thankful for who and where I am today.
I begin to realize that the less complaints or grouses we make on life, the more pleasant and enjoyable things we will experience. Life is full of obstacles; do not let them stop us. Just get over with them and move on. Do not be dreadful or being put off by them.
Too often, we define our lives by the bad experiences we have in life. That will limit us and keep us negatively focused. Stop for a moment and recall all the things that are right with our life. Look at the positive side and be sincerely thankful for what we have.
Gratitude is the cornerstone of abundance. In order to attract more blessings that life has to offer, we must truly appreciate and be grateful with what we already have.
We have, within ourselves, all the wealth and abundance that we will ever need. All we have to do is recognize it and put it to use. And that starts with focusing on the positive.
Ask ourselves: what do we enjoy about life? When are we the happiest? What do we do better than anyone else we know of? What gives us a sense of satisfaction? What is our passion? What would we do if our resources were unlimited?
Answer these questions, and we will find the things which we seek in life. Appreciate the things that we have; count our blessings.
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