Haiti Experience Part 6 - Simple Joy

I think this will be my second last blog about Haiti. I've just realized that I have so much to say about Haiti that this could turn into an hundred part series if I wanted it to. Of course, I don't think anybody will want me to continue rambling on and on about Haiti, so I will end this series with just two more blogs. This second last blog is about the biggest lesson I learned in Haiti, the lesson on simple joy. 

My favorite memory in Haiti is an event that happened in the recovery room. My favorite patient Michael said to our interpreter that his skin is itchy because it's so dry. One of my team mates happened to have a little bottle of lotion with her that day. So she took out that little bottle of lotion and squirted some into this young man's hand. Then she continued putting lotion into each patients' hands, both young and old, male and female. All the patients had such a joy on their face as they rubbed the lotion into their skin on their face and body. The women rubbed the lotion into their baby's skin, the elderly man rubbed the lotion on his legs and foot... Everyone had such a joyous smile on their face as their smelt the lotion and felt the smoothness of their skin. The smile on their face was so big that you'd think they won a house or something. But all it took as that little bit of lotion to bring that much joy on their face.  

One of the sweet happy kids at the orphanage.

As I sat there watching this whole event fold into place, I couldn't help but wonder how much it would take for us to feel that much joy. I mean, as North Americans, we are blessed with so many material things. We have things most Haitian can't even imagine. I remember talking to one of my interpreter about running hot water coming out of the faucet the other day, and he could not understand that concept. It was hard for him to comprehend why there would be hot water coming out of the faucet. He asked me so many questions, why would there be hot water coming out, what heats up the water, how is the hot water separated from the cold water... For us, it's something we all take for granted, something that every house is equipped with, but in Haiti, this was something beyond imagination. Because we are blessed with so much, we all take so much for granted. We stop appreciating the little things in life  because we've had them all our life. A little squirt of lotion would not bring us the amount of joy Haitians experienced. Most of us probably have bottles and bottles of unopened lotion just on our counter. Now we need the Coach, Chanel, BMWs, Benz, expensive condos, caviars to experience that same amount of joy. For some people, even these won't bring them joy because they've became complacent to these as well. It's true what they say, the more we have, the less joy we experience. We stopped appreciating the little things in life, we want more and more, and it takes more and more for us to rejoice. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul reminded us to

"Rejoice always," (1 Thessalonians 5:16)

It's probably one of the shortest verses in the bible, yet it is one of the most challenging verse to obey. I mean, how do we rejoice always when we've stop noticing just how much we are blessed with? Sometimes, it takes a story like this to remind me how much there is to rejoice and be thankful about. It's learning from the Haitians to see and appreciate the little things in life. It's about making that effort to pay attention to what's around us. In other words, it's learning to "stop and smell the roses". One of my favorite Haitian proverb is

Le poul bwe dlo, li pa bliye Bondye.
When the chicken drinks water, she doesn't forget God.

When the chicken drinks water, she has to raise her head and look up into the sky  in order to swallow. What it means is to remember to be thankful even in times of plenty. I think for us North Americans, this is a very fitting proverb. We need to learn to find joy in the little things, and to give thanks for the little things.