I was wondering the other day. Usually, it's my hubby giving me then news of the day. But these days I try to make it a point to go through all the google-d news I can. As I go through article after article, I wonder where the world is headed. Morally, financially, emotionally, and socially ...

What do I want from life? Get a good job, earn well, raise a family I can be proud of and along the way try as many things I've ever wanted to experience. End of the day, most of us want to just do our best in the roles that have be handed to us by Life. In the end, I just want to be able to have said that I lived a full life, in which I achieved whatever I could have, given the circumstances. Be successful, get richer monetarily and in all the other senses possible. Be able to buy all the things I've wanted to, read all the books I've ever wanted, be versatile in the arts I like. I live each day in the anticipation of realizing the little dreams I have for myself.

And yet, there are people out there who are barely surviving. Not just the poor or unprivileged, but those who somehow develop a warped sense of how life should be compared to the Normal viewpoint. Who are stuck in a quagmire of someone else's making. I'm of course referring to the weirdness around us like in the sects. One man's desire to start a humongous village referring to himself as God and then what ? Imagine the children who grow up in such situations. Most of them probably don't even realize there is a whole other world out there, out of the clutches of this morbid upbringing. Where they could be a lot more than they are Now. And then there is the man, who keeps a girl imprisoned in his grip. She's given birth to children in that dark place who have never even seen the light of day. Through no fault of hers, she and those born of her are destined to suffer, till through some sweet twist of fate they are freed into the real world. The person quietly walking to or from a place they frequent and having their lives turned upside down by a passing act of violence. The societies stuck in war ravaged countries, with no better way of living thanks to people they have never heard of or seen. Daily scrounging for food, fighting sickness, darting bullets. Then there are other people who don't have the courage to stand up for themselves. They are all doomed to spend a life, living day to day just trying to survive and reach to the end of life or their rope, which ever comes first. It's bad enough when people like us don't stand up for what's wrong and try to do our bit in doing what's right , giving stronger, harder people a chance to do as their unwholesome will desires. But imagine the people, who CANNOT get away from this macabre world created for them. Will they ever be granted a smile or know what true happiness is? Experience life as we know it? I wonder. I can only empathize and hope that they find some one to guide them to the warmth in the core of their own hearts bringing them into the sunshine.

The world is getting smaller yet somehow more disconnected. It's in these cracks that we let seep into our lives unknowingly that give a chance for such seeds to be planted and grow exponentially. We can't weed out all the bad and hurt. There will always be suffering and hurt and colossal pain, such that we can't even imagine. Such pain that we avoid our whole lives, being careful in every way so as not to be touched by any sort of aggression. But what about those out there who need a hand, a shoulder, or just a smile. That isn't too much to give back to the world, right ? We can try to do our bit in returning Some thing , any thing to the world which has given us the simple pleasures of Our own lives. Maybe it's just by voicing our concerns or being there for someone who needs us, or just smiling at someone who seems to be having a bad day. Be nice, be kind, be courteous. Pass it on. Who knows? Your smile might be the breathe of fresh air that someone needs.