Life is full of choices (2)

While waiting for my flight, from London Heathrow airport to Stockholm, in British Airways lounge I met this fine lady. She was flying home; South Africa. The lady had this thick British accent. From the way she sat and spoke you can immediately notice that she is definitely not a commoner. And I think she wanted someone to talk to, maybe just to pass the time. Indeed, I entertained her and listened while she did almost all the talk.

I understood that she was visiting her only daughter in London. Her daughter is studying law in one of the best schools not in Britain only but in the world. Her plan for the daughter is for her to have a very good education. Get some fine training in one of the top-notch law firms in England or the USA. Then her daughter is supposed to join her father’s family business and hopefully her father will live long enough to guide his daughter and train her to run his business.

The lady took pride in the efforts she made to have a successful marriage and putting her daughter in the right schools and social setups to ensure that she also leads a successful life. “success does not just happen, it takes a lot of planning and deliberation” the lady said.

The lady left to catch her flight, leaving me with so many questions spinning in my head. Do we, sometimes, get caught in pursuing success at the expense of other aspects of life? How do we measure success anyways? Would anyone rather be rich and unhappy rather than happy and poor? Please do not get me wrong here; I believe that life is full of choices and I am not implying by any means that you cannot have it all. Indeed, I do believe that you can live a life full of love, be happy and very successful too.

On my way to board the plane, I found this HSBC advertisement; how to measure success. Did it answer my questions? I don’t think so.

 

Life is full of choices (1)

I strongly believe that life is full of choices. I always remind myself and others that it is very easy to make other people happy. It is also very easy to offend them. I choose to make people happy.

On my last flight from Stockholm to London on British airways, I thought that the hot meal that was served was the best meal I ever had on any flight in my whole lie (as far as I can remember).

After finishing the meal, I went to the hostess and thanked her for the very friendly service I have received and the sumptuous meal that was served. The lady could not stop thanking me for being appreciative and “so kind”. The small thank you note turned into more than 10minutes talk. “I have been doing this job for more than 20years, you cannot imagine, some passengers are very rude. Sometimes they even shout at us”, she said.

Going back to my seat after the discussion ended; not only this lady felt very good about herself and very happy, I also was all pumped up with positive energy because of a very small act that did not cost me anything could make another fellow human being so happy.