I had thought of million ways to write my gratitude journal. My view was that i would write about just one thing or one event or memory or a person, but when i finally decided to put my thoughts into action, i understood that there are so many things to be grateful for. Like, A stands for Air, Aeroplanes, my ability to pen my thoughts and I can’t just write about one.
The very “Air” we breath and which is quintessential to our very existence is the foremost thing I am grateful for. Ask a person who can’t breathe or get air inside lungs. The very feeling of breathlessness is overwhelming and sickening. The air quality is getting worse each day because of more and more vehicles, fumes from burning of natural gas, fossil fuels, chemical productions. Those of us who can breathe never realize that it is just a matter of few years until there will be a dearth of the fresh clean air. I have lived for almost 8 years in one of the most polluted cities in the world, and travelling via autorickshaws meant inhaling toxic fumes. I would end up having an antihistamine on a daily basis. My son grew in the same city for first 6 years of his life and battled with asthma and chronic bronchitis until he moved from that polluted air. When the smog goes up, there are few outcries and debates, yet the simplest measure of reducing the usage of car, using a public transport, having more green spaces can work wonders. I am blessed to live in an area where breath is fresh air, untouched by too many vehicles.
Another thing which comes to my mind is the “Airplane”. Had Wright brothers not thought of the first flying machine, the world would have not become a smaller place. Because of air travel, I have travelled places. If it was not for the distances reduced by air, my dream of travelling and finally getting a degree of international repute would have never come true.
I am most grateful for my ability to write. Had I not been able to compose my thoughts, my blog would never have been born, nor this post written. I have always loved to pen my thoughts whether it was scribblings in diaries or the back of notebooks. All this was long forgotten until one morning while driving to work I had this rant in my mind. As soon as I reached work, I jotted it all down on a piece of paper. A year later, I wrote it as a blogpost on Google blogspot. That was year 2015, and ever since I have been writing my random musings.
Writing to me is giving thoughts to my words. It is cathartic and refreshing. It gives me more clarity and perspective. Putting my emotions and feelings as words helps me untangle the knots in my psyche which keep tugging on my heart unnecessarily. Writing makes me feel like i am creating magic, my own art. Most of the greatest works of art are produced dealing with your own complex emotions. J.K Rowling wrote Harry Potter grappling with the grief of her mother’s death.
Language is what makes us human. Language is what made the civilizations. The background of art, literature, science, medicine can all be traced back through the written word. Ever since, we have been making progress in leaps and bounds because we have the evidence as written word. If all this was passed just as hear say, we would still be going round and round without making any real progress.
My experiences, my thoughts may not matter, yet even if there is one person somewhere who resonates with what i wrote, I feel blessed that not only could I write for myself, but I could make someone else heard too.
What is that really makes us? It is our collective intelligence. It is our ability to write things down, our language and our consciousness.
Louise Leakey
Why do you write?
This post is written as a part of A2Z2023 hosted by Blogchatter. #BlogchatterA2Z2023
The Vagabond 
Leave a Reply