Sunday 29 / June / 2025
What happened to the ordinary people doing ordinary things? It seems real life is not anyway to be seen and it all has changed for the worse.
It also seems that, for most people now, their goals are not anymore rooted in things that make them better humans. They do things just to get through another day. For some, the minutes tick away very slowly and they have a long day to go through.
While others just jump into the social wagon that hurries through the day without a pause. Everyone these days want to do something extraordinary then they get into trouble somewhere along the way. We all rush through like we will never get another chance.
What are we afraid of? People judging us. If you slow down then they will say you are ‘lazy’. If you correct someone then you are judged as a “know-all”. If you give advice then they tell you to mind your own business.
What about if you keep to yourself? They either call you ‘anti-social’ or ‘arrogant’. The other day, I was trying to do something ordinary people do in everyday life. I saw a friend walking towards me. I stopped and asked for his health. He just gave me a cold look and waved back without stopping.
It was not hard to know what went in his mind. I was interfering with his life. Why would I want to know about his health? A week later, I stopped to help when a child fell down while running on a car park. When I tried to pick up the little boy, the mother pushed me away rudely and picked him up.
I was not offended. I just continued with my walk towards my car. Obviously, she was angry that she was not careful enough to make sure her child was safe. I did what ‘ordinary people’ would do in a very ordinary day.
When I don’t see ordinary people doing ordinary things, I just look for them. It is like looking for a coin in a vast desert. They have now become a rare species. Talking about the desert, that gives us a clue. The Bedouins out there live a very ordinary life.
They have no distractions. The camels, goats, sheep and the sands make no demands with their lives. Life is simple there and very ordinary, too. Today is exactly the same like it was yesterday and no one is trying to do anything extraordinary.
Unlike in the towns and cities, no one is judging anyone there. The Bedouins expectations in life is ordinary. The hot sun is still up there in the sky and the winds are occasionally blowing sands on their eyes. But they have no complaints at all.
While here in the cities, everyone is trying do something different on a regular basis. It is a competition that never ends. Everyone wants to be noticed and stand out from the crowd. What they don’t realize that people who built pyramids were ordinary. All they wanted was to make a little change in their lives.
The truth is that ‘extraordinary’ has got nothing to do with achievements. If we infuse love and care in our daily lives, then that is ordinarily enough.
