Wednesday, August 10, 2011

10082011

I can't hear your complaints.



The most for whom the name of Croesus rings a bell, know him as a wealthy man, a king of riches. Croesus was the king of Lydia during 560 to 547 BC and he was, indeed, quite wealthy and was in fact the first person to have issued gold coins into circulation. What most people don't know about Croesus is that his first son, whose name remains unknown, was deaf by birth and he wasn't able to speak either.

My current job is to listen to people who complain to me about various things all day long. Someone has been unjust towards them, someone has made a mistake, someone is in debt to them or they are in debt to someone. People generally seem to have a lot to complain about in their everyday lives. Don't get me wrong here: I'm usually in favor of complaining because it puts things into motion and keeps different standards high. But quite often I wonder, especially in this job, that what on Earth do people actually need to complain about so much.

I saw one deaf person today and another yesterday. They were using sign language, which I find to be a fairly complicated and slow way of communicating. They can't hear the birds of the summer singing their last tunes, neither can they enter the world of music and float inside harmless melodies. They can't hear the soft voices of their loved ones, neither can they sense the anger in the voice of another. Yet, they seemed perfectly happy with their lives.

Who is there to hear the complaints of these people who can't form audible or understandable words? Who is there for them to listen to all their troubles?

I think most people who nowadays complain about things, have too much of everything in their life. When you don't have much, you don't have much to complain about and you can be happy with what you've got. When you have more than you need, you start looking for excuses to complain about something you haven't got yet.

One story goes that king Croesus eventually lost a great battle. He was sentenced to death on the battlefield with his son as a witness. His son made a courageous attempt and spoke out loud and the life of Croesus was spared. The unknown son of Croesus had saved his father's life.

Be thankful for what you have in your life and make the most of it. If it seems like your complaints only fall on deaf ears, remember that the deaf are thankful for having ears, even though they can't hear your complaints. A life spent complaing about the things you don't have is a life wasted. A life cherishing things you have is a life well spent.

.cease to know.

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