Best speaker Magazine Issue 2 - December 2017 | Seite 63

JOY IN
SIMPLICITY
W
hen I was a kid, I had a fanciful
interest in seeking out joy in
simple things around me. The
fabulous combination of glittering colors;
black dots on a red background of tiny
ladybirds on a clump of green grass were
picturesque to my little eyes. The texture I
felt when I touched the powdered wings
of dead butterflies are memories from
my playful childhood. The murmuring
sound I heard from the paddy fields when
the winds blew across the fecund paddy
while I was resting on a hayloft with my
grandpa still reverberates in my ears.
Writing wishes on kites and flying them
in the sky with my circle of friends was so
pleasurable. They remind me the brilliant
minds we had in those days. Meanwhile,
it was fun to put our legs in the rivulet
and let the small fish poke us while we
watched the sunset. Making crowns with
dried jack leaves and wearing them on our
heads allowed us to be the kings & queens
of our own kingdoms.
In those days, I had lots of questions
which arose with the environment I lived.
Why did the river water turn silver on
full moon days? Why did the evening star
shine brighter than her fellow stars? Why
couldn’t I fly in the sky like a bird? Those
were the questions I frequently asked
from my grandpa who always had a silent
yet beautiful smile on his face. Simple
things always made me happy and love
the nature.
Visiting the Great Wall of China,
floating in the Dead Sea, hiking Mount
Everest and visiting the Pyramids in Egypt
could be someone’s dreams which he thinks
would bring happiness to his life. But, a
cup of coffee on a rainy day while reading
a book will bring that same joy to someone
who is used to enjoying and admiring the
simplicity in the moments of life. Since
my childhood, the joy in simplicity has
entertained me by always guiding me to
be alive with nature. However, life has a
queer way of transforming an individual’s
life from simplicity to the complexity
of modernization. The simplicity of
childhood with few expectations has
been replaced by the complexity of life’s
prospects with more expectations.
The unbearable sound of trains,
continuous blaring of vehicle horns, smoky
and dusty roads are the things I encounter
everyday which remind me that I am now
far away from joy and simplicity. It makes
me miss the beauty of my hometown. The
back to back lectures, assignments with
deadlines, complicated subjects, struggles
with time and competitive examinations
have made life stressful while building
up enormous, growing expectations and
future hopes within me day by day. When
I was a kid, I was taught to feel the grace
of the moon and count the stars shining at
night which was a soothing sight for me.
Now, I’m taught to make more profit from
market transactions, balance demand and
supply theories, and even sell the moon
and the stars at higher prices in order to
become successful professionals in the
field.
Everything has changed with time,
the emperor of one’s life. However, my
childhood interests which taught me
the value of finding joy in simplicity will
never change with time as my soul has
been created with the power to gather joy
in the sun, the moon, the rain and other
natural forces of the earth.
Gavelier SITHUMINI
SAMARAWEERA
Faculty of Social Sciences
BEST SPEAKER MAGAZINE 2017
63