Lets do the GREAT THING ....

I was waiting to get back to India, after a hectic but wonderful trip to USA. The trip made me travel quite a bit of America from South to Centre to West and finally back to South! All this in 20 days, including a family marriage! Gosh ...... (feel tired even as I write ;-) )

We had chosen to fly DELTA Airlines (ofcourse because it was the cheapest!) from Mumbai-Tampa-Mumbai, halting at Amsterdam. We took a cruising flight to Amsterdam from Tampa. As we reached the gate to board the flight for Mumbai, the TV screen greeted us, reading - "FLIGHT DELAYED BY ONE HOUR"

There was option but to wait. As I was standing at the counter to talk to the Customer Service Assistant, a gentleman about 55 year old, bearing white hair and mustache, dressed in a black trousers and a spotless white shirt with cuffs over shoulder seemed to be enquiring with the other Customer Service Assistant -

"What's the scene?"

The lady in a little jittery voice replied, "Sir, the flight is delayed by atleast an hour!"

With an astonishment on his face, he looked around! He observed, "But there seems to be no place to sit!"

"Yes Sir. There aren't enough seats at the gate for passengers to sit," replied the lady.

Within fraction of a second, the gentleman (who I now understood was the pilot of our flight to Mumbai) enquired, "Should we start boarding now so that people can get a place to sit?"

In a hopeful voice she said, "It will be GREAT if we can do that!"

"Well, LET'S DO THE GREAT THING THEN ......" came a confident answer from the pilot.

Within 10 minutes the pilot got his crew and started to board the flight. He could have easily sat in the DELTA lounge, sipped juices, had sandwiches and waited until the flight was ready. But he chose to look for passengers comfort and boarded early!

I learnt a huge lesson that moment. Since then, my mantra has become - "LET ME DO THE GREAT THING ...." The question that I keep asking myself now is - AM I DOING THIS IN A GREAT WAY? It can be at work, while relating with family/ friends, while exercising, while sitting as a student in satsang, while meditating, while listening to someone, and every other single thing I do.

I can carry this on in any and every moment of my life! I have pledged to do that. There are instances when I don't do it the GREAT WAY. But, immediately the pilot's face pops up and I stand corrected the next moment!

Thanks to the Pilot, my attitude has made a permanent shift. Did reading about this change something about you too?


Thanks & Regards,
Amit Kothari