Don’t keep a thank you for tomorrow

No matter what form of procrastination one has, the tendency is to postpone everything for later, even a ‘thank you’ gets moved over.

But there comes a time when we might not have another chance to express our gratitude. That is when the stream of regrets seem endless and sentences begin with, ‘If Only..”

We take tomorrow often for granted so much that when someone goes without saying goodbye, we are left speechless. The words left unsaid seem to echo through our head. We want to convey our feelings of gratitude and think maybe it is okay to say it to the relatives. Try it and you are never satisfied.

The tomorrow we think about may never exist. It all depends on our destiny and then is it not better we complete our duties?

We laugh at this moment not realising what each day is to reveal. It could be tears of sorrow or happiness.

It takes a lot to understand our emotions. Feeling sad is something we connect with from early childhood. We cry when we are born, but that could be a reaction to being out of the comfort zone and the need to inhale oxygen. The lung capacity probably sets its pace from then on. The newborns are often persuaded to cry. That first cry proves the ability to breathe on their own. Everyone waits for that cry, it is musical then.

After that, everyone wants to hush the sobs and wipe away the tears because they want to see happiness on the child’s face, no matter what the age is.

The absence of a person is harsh when we know we will never see them again, we can never have discussions and chats. And then the most difficult factor - we will never hear that voice again. You will wish again and again if the time could go back and could rewind and rewrite fate. A little more time for a few more minutes. That is why the wise ones say live as if it is the final one. And one would realise there is a lot of homework to be completed.

So let us not wait for tomorrow to say thank you.

This week, I met a cyclist who has been cycling in different countries because of his passion to cycle and experience cultures. Now he is cycling with a purpose and that is to preserve our environment and to protect our planet Earth. He is concerned about micro plastics in our food. His name is Michael Everzst, sustainability researcher. He explained how scientists have proven that we could be consuming weekly micro plastics which could when put together be in the size of a credit card. Apparently this has already been impacting our health in various ways especially fertility.

We are consuming too much, he says. Look around you and one would know how all of us are being sucked into commercial. The flavours of coffees, and tea, fruits out of season, fragrances to detergents; there is a list of must haves. In the make belief world they all look like essentials but abandon them and we realise life is perfectly fine without them.

Michael explained how he experienced soul richness once he decided he will cycle the countries of the world for Expedition_hope. He has a flag which states, Stand up for Planet. Climate change would only make the poor, poorer. We plan our future, the economy and worry about the future of our children, but we think so little about the planet. Groups of people think about it emotionally and others think of it in terms of words and contracts. And now there is a want of actions.

So Micheal chose to start cycling from Germany and will complete in total 30 countries, climb mountains in Eastern Africa, reach Cape of Good Hope and cross the sea on a boat to reach Amazon for COP30.

Accompanying him throughout the journey is Kermit the Frog, a conversation starter for children and then it becomes easier for Michael to explain why it is important to be green.

Earlier the better to teach why we need to be grateful to Earth and how we can collaborate to become world citizens. Let us learn to say thank you on time, not when it is too late. Words hold power that can heal and nurture, and action makes it a fact.