I was merely seven years old the time I visited my home country of Bangladesh. I came across many of my relatives and visited a great deal of places; many of which were exceptionally beautiful. However, a moment that stands out was a car ride that took place while traveling from my aunt’s home to my grandmother’s home. The events that I witnessed on that journey were significant enough to change me as a person by making me more aware, appreciative, and optimistic. As a seven year old boy who’s lived his whole live in Canada, I really didn’t know much about the world and how things functioned.
But, witnessing this one instance during my car ride gave me the exposure that I truly needed. It changed my thinking of the people around me and thus made me more aware. During the car ride, I saw two young kids with tattered clothes begging for food and money and their look of despair after being refused by people. This really hit me hard at the time, I knew nothing of how the unfortunate went about their days except for in books. But, after seeing it with my own eyes I came to understand what all those books meant when they described the pain and suffering of its characters.
And, from then on my awareness of the surrounding grew as I began to observe the people around me to understand their feelings. The ride was fairly protracted, and I soon became very thirsty and hungry. Most people were old enough to know that it was improper to eat food inside a van, but I was an exception because I was young. My mom handed me a bottle of water and a tuna sandwich. I complained that the tuna was a bit salty and the water was somewhat too warm. It was then that my mom scolded me and told me to be happy for what I got. To some extent, I was able to comprehend how fortunate I truly was.
I became more appreciative of the fact that I didn’t need to go out and search for food or beg. I saw some more people on the roads as we passed by. There were many children on the streets too – some had families, while others looked like orphans. I was saddened by the fact that they were born into poverty with little to no money. It came to my attention that I was very lucky to be in a family who could actually feed me three meals a day and that I shouldn’t complain about everything. My mom telling me that I should not complain was the inspiration that made me more grateful and less unappreciative.
The car ride made me more grateful than before the trip, when I used to whine about the simplest things. After a while, I began to chow down that tuna-fish sandwich and I cherished the water that was given to me. The optimistic quality of me was brought out when the van was out of fuel in the middle of the trip. A lot of us in the van were scared and panicked, including me. The alarming part was that phone reception wasn’t working at that location. The tension level was, indeed, very high at that time. However, one person who was calm was my father. He worked very hard to soothe and appease everyone.
He told the kids that nothing bad was going to happen and that we could even take an advantage of the situation by taking a break from the long and boring car ride. While two of my uncles went out to a local bazar for fuel, my dad brought out the food from our bags and let everyone start eating. The tension level dropped considerably. Afterwards, he suggested we could sing until the two men came back. We chanted the national anthem, some poems, and a few other songs as well. By the way, I tried my best in saying it all in Bangla. Not a single person was nervous or strained by the time our van was up and running again for the trip.
This moment had taught me that life will never be an easy road with no rough paths. There will always be times where frustration and pain will occur. Challenges will always exist. But the trip also told me that some circumstances that are deemed daunting can easily be turned into a happy moment. This changed me as person by making me more optimistic and hopeful. Before the trip, I was always scared when a situation wasn’t in my “comfort-zone. ” Now, when I look at myself, I find that I try my best to discover the positives of an event or incident.
It’s because this experience, created by my father, taught me tips on how to stay happy in those unpleasant situations. What I learned from this trip were three main things that influenced me significantly – that the world is much different than how I pictured it before the trip. There is poverty and distress and the small problems I had in Canada was nothing compared to the problems in other countries. Complaining about internet speed was something most people in first world countries do; however, I learned to appreciate the fact that I was very fortunate compared to most of the world.
The trip ultimately crafted my skill of gratitude. The last knowledge that I gained from the trip was hope and optimism. After being in a tough situation of losing fuel in the middle of nowhere, my family and I still managed to stay happy in the end. There were many freighting parts in the car ride but hope over-powered the negative thoughts in my brain. That eventually brought about the optimistic quality of me. To sum up, one trip, or rather, one car ride, influenced the way I perceived the world along with how I behaved.
