We truly are lucky creatures....

June 6th. 2011.

Sometimes....in going through our busy daily lives, we tend to overlook many blessings accorded to us and even forgot to stop and smell the flowers. Its spring time in Istanbul and the although its a bit late in coming, its a wonderful change after all those cold and wet days (and nites).

After the colorful tulips have wilted, its now blooming of great, colorful and biggggg roses. White, pink, red, yellow, magenta...you have them all here. Its crawling everywhere its tendrils can get a hold on to. Its on your fences, on the road divider, beside the swimming pool, in the garden, on the balcony....just beautiful! How wonderful to be in Istanbul at this time of the year. Many a times, i couldn't resist the temptation and just jump out of my car and went down to smell the roses. If they think i'm crazy...well, being a Yabanci (foreigner) do have its privilege !!

Today, something caught my attention, twice ! I think God must be trying to knock some humility into me and ambushed me with these two very significant happenings.

The first event took place in a very busy street where I was waiting for my 29C bus to go home after spending sometimes shopping at MetroCity. The three o'clock bus stop is always jam packed with people when a bus drew to stop in front of us. Suddenly....everything and everyone went quiet and you could hear and feel the thoughts that would be on everybody's mind.

There, coming out from the bus was a man. Maybe in his 40's and medium built in striped shirt and black pants. So, what could be so strange about a man alighting from a bus? Well....for a start, he's not walking. He's crawling out of the bus, on his own, unassisted. Picture this....he's crawling on all fours, with his legs and hands. He had a slipper (or slip-on) on his two hands to protect them from the road or whatever.

He crawled away from the bus, oblivious to us staring at him albeit speechless (how impolite we all were) and inched his way to wait for another bus. I am not sure about the rest but for me, I only saw one thing.....and that was the determination and 'calmness' on his face. He was lucky as he didn't have to wait long for his bus. He got it immediately he reached the other stop. And just as how he stunned us with his crawling out of the bus, he also fascinated us with his crawling onto the bus with no assistance as if thats the most natural thing for him to do. After that, we could see the excitement on the bus where someone gave up his seat to him.

Needless to say, I was deep in thought throughout my whole journey back and I started to count my blessings and thank God for everything that I have. What is the significance of this event again? Well.....for one, thats's how the Turks are. They are really determined people and very very resilient and innovative. Not to mention, helpful and kind people.

That man was not in rags or tattered clothes. Far from it. He was dressed properly and I won't be surprised if he was on his way to work. He was not any different from the rest and he had on him the same determination and dignity that any average Joe even failed to have. He could be somebody's husband, father or son and I am sure that they are proud of him for being so 'normal' in our prejudiced and stereotyping mind. He is such a 'strong' man even though he was only inches from the ground as compared to our towering heights. How lucky we are that we don't have to find out if the air is fresher 6 inches from the road or pavement.

WE truly are lucky creatures !!!

Will tell you about the second event in my next posting. Gotta rush out to buy some ekmek (bread) for my cleaner lady who's cleaning the my units today.

Iyi gunler !!!