The weather delayed or cancelled over a hundred flights. People were angry, frustrated, and irritated. In the Munich airport, my coworkers and I sat on black chairs in a crowded area waiting for number 473 to be called. The current number the travel representatives were attending was 328 and we knew it was going to be a long layover.
I sat next to two Indian women and their sons. The boys were going back and forth about food, school, and soccer. I struck up a conversation with two two boys about soccer, which led to a Rock, Paper, Scissor tournament,* and an Indian spelling game called Atlas. After about an hour of entertaining fun, I grabbed my phone and texted Matt about our delay.
You have a iPhone, one of the excitedly asked in a thick Indian accent. His other friend came around and stated, Wow, what else do you have? I casually told them my husband bought me an iPad and I also had a Mac computer sitting in my bag. Both of the boys gawked in unbelief, No way, you have so many things! Wow, you are rich!
I quickly explained that I was in no way, shape, or form rich. But no matter what I said, they shook their head and confidently stated I was rich.
Two Indian boys traveling with their mothers from Mumbai, looked at me and believed that I was wealthy. I could confidently make a argument that I was not wealthy, then point out someone who I believed was wealthy so as to prove that I didn’t have things in life that qualify or quantify wealth.
Rich. A word filled with ambiguous standards and definitions. Two educated Indian boys traveling with their mothers in Europe would be classified as rich in Mumbai and many parts of the world. And yet, they looked at me, a simple American trapped in an airport with modern technological toys and thought I was rich.
Twenty minutes later they said their goodbyes to try catch their outbound flight to London. Shortly after they left, I stuffed my laptop into my bag next to my iPhone and was struck with a profound truth.
I have food.
I have a job.
I have a car.
I have shoes.
I have a home.
I have clean water.
I have received education.
I have available medical care.
In comparing myself to those around me, I realized my perspective was so wrong. I my not own a house or drive a fancy car or shop at haute couture boutiques, but you know what? My two young Indian friends were right. I am blessed. Ridiculously blessed. And today I’m thankful for God allowing two boys to remind of how rich I am.
*In case you were wondering, I won at Rock, Paper, Scissors. Don’t mess me with me and games!
Yes. This was a profound realization for me, too.
Humbling and challenging, too.
Thanks Michelle! WE are rich indeed 🙂
Beautiful, B.
High-five for lessons from Indian boys. Then again, I’m a little biased being Indian and all.
xoxo
wow! thank you for posting this!!! we are so blessed here in america, and we don’t always realize how good God has been to us!!!
Great story! So very true…thanks for the reminder! We can be Rich in many ways..not necessarily with material things (and sometimes I think that’s even richer..or would that be wealthier? lol)
Tom Sanders “Today We Are Rich” is a great book by the way.
Amen!! Something I too need to be reminded of. Thanks B!!! 🙂
What a great reminder. God’s really been hammering that lesson home to me in so many ways lately. For example, yesterday I felt like He wanted me to clean the house. As I did everything associated with it, He was prodding me…”isn’t it a blessing to have hardwood floors versus dirt floors? isn’t it a blessing to have a sturdy house instead of a hut?”
They don’t know how competitive you can get hahaha. Thanks for today’s reading missy!
Mind if I share this on my blog?
I experienced this so much in Cambodia.
The kids would call me rich and I’d try to explain how actually, I lived off other people. I only have a few sets of clothes, two pairs of shoes, and a few other personal possessions.
But I looked again at their lives and realized one pair of shoes, one set of clothes and no other personal possessions would make me rich in their eyes. Even the fact that I have access to money through other people giving, when they don’t even have that.
I LOVE IT!!!!! Love it!!!!!