THE LIGHTER SIDE OF DARKNESS

As I closed my eyes and stepped into his shoes, a chilling feeling engulfed my very soul.

The feeling of a loathsome loneliness.

The feeling of a gut-chewing, ferocious fear.

And the feeling of a death-like darkness.

And yet, somehow, from within me, I found the courage to laugh just like he had done, like this: Ha! Ha! Ha!

I know! I know! I’ve gone ahead and you want to know who “he” is, and what am I talking about? I will tell you! But first let me tell you how I met him.

All of last year, I was depressed over several things:

I was depressed because business was bad.

I was depressed because my money wasn’t going far.

I was depressed because I was gaining weight and losing hair.

In fact, I was depressed about being depressed over such silly things.

One day, during this depression, I was driving home from another failed sales call. The world around me was a sad place to be in when I stopped for a traffic light on the corner of Shaw and Edsa. Pedestrians were scurrying home, cars were snarling at each other, and thirty feet above me the Light Rail Transit was hurtling away towards nowhere.

I felt sorry for the world, and I didn’t feel any good about myself either.

Then, suddenly, right in the path of my car appeared a man.

His clothes were tattered, his hair was long, and his silhouette was messiah-like.

“Uh-oh! I said to myself, “Another one of those Looney tunes!”

As he groped towards my car with an open palm, I rolled down the window hoping to get rid of him with a few coins.

Ladies and Gentlemen, on that sad, dusky evening, the face I looked into made me jump out of my skin. Dust-covered, laden with scars, it was a face from another world.

Where his eyes should have been, there were two holes of darkness!

I gently dropped the coins into his palm, for a moment he seemed to stare at me.

He then thanked me and laughed heartily. Ha! Ha! Ha!

Laughed heartily? How could he? Was he not blind? Was he not a beggar on the streets? Where’d he get the gumption to laugh, let alone exist in this depressing world?

That is when my wandering soul abandoned me and stepped into his shoes. In his shoes I felt his loneliness, his fear, his darkness. In his shoes, I realized that the blind man was laughing in spite of blindness.

I drove away from the corner thinking:

So what if my business was bad; at least I wasn’t bankrupt!

So what if my money wasn’t going far; at least I wasn’t broke!

So what if I was gaining weight and losing hair; I still had a great smile!

Oftentimes, we take our shortcomings and setbacks much too seriously. We dwell so much on the negative that we forget to see the humor behind things.

How many times have we lost opportunities because we thought we were not tall enough, not rich enough or not skilled enough?

How many times have we broken relationships because we thought we didn’t get enough freedom, appreciation, or understanding?

Had we looked on the brighter side, we could have survived!

Had we looked on the lighter side, we could have shone!

Like:

Danny de Vito is short, bald, and ugly, and yet he is a successful actor, director, and producer.

Former Senator Juan Flavier is short, bald, comes from a humble background but he still went ahead and became the most famous Senator ever!

Comedian Marissa Sanchez constantly pokes fun at herself and becomes more and more successful.

They all started by looking at the bright side and making light of their shortcomings. Not only did they surpass their shortcomings; they outshone others.

So:

If our businesses are not making profits, think of the lighter side – turn them into non-profit organizations!

If our money is not going far, think of the lighter side – at least it’s getting faster!

If we are turning old and ugly on the outside, at least on the inside we are becoming wiser and more beautiful!

The change in our external behavior will change the way we think. The way we think and act will change our lives and destinies!

Laugh at your failures and laugh at your foibles! Laugh if you are fat and laugh if you are thin! Laugh and your loneliness, your fears and your dejections will fizzle away!

I maintain that we may have come into this world helpless and crying; but it is within our power and capacity to go out laughing.

Laugh! Laugh! Laugh! Even if you have a bad accent like mine. Like this: Ha! Ha! Ha!

(Long pause)

I know! I know!

Some of you are thinking that you can out-laugh me! Right?

Sure you can! Of course you can! The power and the capacity to choose the lighter side of darkness, ladies and gentlemen, lie within you!

By: Raju Mandhyan