When deciding upon a book for this week I really thought what message I would want to communicate. The most poignant thing that came to my mind was aconversation that I had twice in the past week. The topic of being grateful for what you have and appreciating the country in which you were born in came up. On a daily basis we complain about the miniscule things that really are of small significance.
We complain about the little things and become seemingly judgemental of others, without pausing for a second and asking ourselves what we would have done in that situation if placed in somebody else’s shoes. Most of us don’t think on a daily basis if we will have something to eat, a roof over our heads, die of sickess or war. I know personally and from observation that we are also very quick to judge. It is easy to assume a certain position when most of our necessities are guaranteed, but what would we do if things weren’t so…?
The first book that came to my mind when debating this topic was “White Tiger” by Aravind Adiga. I read it about a year ago and it raises all these questions that I just mentioned. It tells the story of a man in India who moves from his small village to Bombay. He becomes a taxi driver for a wealthy family and in between becomes involved in situations that one would not consider ideal.
At a ceratin point he faces a choice: whether he does what we consider moral and continues his poor, menial life, or he does something many of us would consider ‘not the right thing to do’ but this guarantees him a safe, calm, and secure life. During the course of this book issues ranging from family, loyalty, Indian culture, and many more are raised.
I fell in love with this book because it reminded me that not everything is as it seems. Plus, everything is different, it only depends from whose eyes and perspective you look. A book that is hard to put away, but also sometimes so intense you wnat to put it away because it reawakens things that we dont ponder about on a daily basis. After all, it’s a lot easier to complain about those menial htings in life.
However, I do recommend that you read the book and ask yourself: if I was in the situation and was facing those circumstance, what would I do?? In most cases I can guarantee your answer won’t be what you would have expected from yourself.
