So much to be thankful for!

I woke up today at about a few minutes past 5 am. I actually wake up every day at a few minutes past 5am. It wouldn't  matter if I had gone to bed at 2am, and had just 3 hours of sleep, I will always be up at that time. Today, I woke up with nothing but gratitude in my heart. I woke up thankful. I woke up happy. In the midst of the pain,sorrow,poverty,wars,sadness, madness,sickness and all other earthly 'discomforts' too numerous to mention,  I humbly say THANK YOU GOD! I'm alive and most importantly I am healthy and that's just perfect for me!  You aren't ill right? You haven't been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Have you? Your only worries right now are you have bread but no butter to spread on!?  Be THANKFUL!  On the 13th of May last year, my best friend decided to celebrate her birthday with in-patients at a government owned hospital. It wasn't my first time going to a hospital, but I never knew pain like that existed up until the 13th of May 2015. I met people who had spent months in the hospital because they couldn't afford to pay an amount of money I would have considered  meagre and probably spent buying something unnecessary. I met people whom their families had abandoned because they were terminally Ill and their families couldn't cope with the emotional and financial burdens any longer. I even met people who had no family! I kept thinking  "How? How possible is that? How can someone have no family to call on?",but that was their reality. Just because I have shoulders to lean on and cry on whenever I desire, doesn't mean everybody has same. I met a woman whom three of her daughters had meningitis and she couldn't afford to continue buying the expensive medications that were being administered. I met a double amputee who couldn't stop crying because he had five young children to take care of and his wife had passed on a few months before he had  the accident that led to his amputations. He kept murmuring "where will I start? Where will I start?" . I met a man who had become 'hospital property'. Even the matron in charge of his ward wasn't sure anymore when he became an in-patient. We spent the least time at the neonatal ward. That ward left us crying just like the babies in there. It was very difficult to watch.....My friend (God bless her heart!),distributed money round the wards, settled some patients  outstanding  bills and we said a prayer for all... I went home a different  woman. I stopped complaining. I stopped being ungrateful. I changed. I became thankful! So, waking up healthy and happy inspite of all worrisome happenings around me, yet again I say THANK YOU GOD!  You don't believe there is a God? Then say 'THANK YOU' to whatever it is you believe in. You don't believe in anything? Then say 'THANK YOU'  to the wind, to the earth, to the universe! Just look to the skies and say 'THANK YOU!' .... Say 'THANK YOU' in your heart, for there is indeed so much to be thankful for!

I AM THE DUCHESS.