Observe and learn

Look around us - people, people of different sizes, colors - each a snow flake, every life with a different purpose.  One aspect of my job that I absolutely love, is the whole spectrum of human beings that I get to interact with  Unlike jobs where you generally cross paths with one section or class of people, I get to strike conversation with a diverse mix.Youngsters just in the throes of beginning a new job, homemakers, unemployed, successful businessmen, professionals ... the full array . Hi- fliers, vagrants, drifters, writers, poets, magicians, musicians, professional gamblers, priests, a convict  yes those too. Stories of love, betrayals,addictions, survival , separations and unions. Stories of courage, of hope, of despair and will to live.
People from diverse backgrounds, countries, ages , with stories that would put the soap operas to shame, yet they all share a common story of love, hope , struggle, grief. It doesn't matter who you  are, it doesn't matter what you do, we are all united in our humanity. Our emotions are the same, our expression of the same might be different.

I have learnt life doesn't stop till it actually does and you need money to pay the undertaker even after you die, yet wealth does not buy you health or a seemingly healthy body not a long life. I have learnt that your courage is tested till the end - loss of near and dear ones are blows that take time to recover. You  never recover, but you do learn to live without them - your spouse or children.

I have learnt smile and kindness are the universal language of love and friendship and  that a kind word, a genuine show of concern in dire times forges connections for life.

One of the most important lessons I have learnt is never ever judge - you don't know the story until it is told to you. Time and again I find myself unknowingly judging people, and time and again I have been proven wrong - absolutely wrong. Everybody has a story - and  in many ways we write our own stories -each one of us. Our stories develop and grow with every choice we make. All our decisions, everyday, every moment sculpt us to be the person we are today.