Quote: “What one has not experienced, one will never understand.”
My life has always been an easy one when I was living with my parents. I never had to worry about things like; electricity bills, monthly rent, food and other expenses. Whatever I wanted was served right before me without any questions. “Life was easy beyond doubt.”
Long time back, when I used to live with my parents, my father called me in his room and showed me a monthly telephone bill of Rupees 10,000, which was approximately $140 at that time. He started scolding me for a few minutes about the misuse of telephone line that I had been doing. Then he told me how hard he has to work to earn such a lump sum amount. Even then, I was stubborn and told him repeatedly, that I had not misused the line. For me, to get a telephone bill of Rupees 10,000 was not a serious matter. I even challenged him that I could earn rupees 10,000 in a matter of a day.
After hearing my challenge, he paused for a moment and told me “what one has not experienced, one will never understand.”
At that moment I did not understand what he really meant. I did not have to work for money and I did not realize how hard it was to earn.
Today, my life has completely changed. After coming to U.S. and having to work for the first time in my life, I now realize, how hard it is to earn. The money which I earn is not enough to support myself because I have to pay my bills every month and try to save some for my college as well. Now to earn $140, which I used to spend on the telephone, chatting about useless and meaning less things; I have to work almost 20 hours.
By realizing this lesson that my father gave me long before, I finally found out the true meaning of my dad’s quote “what one has not experienced, one will never understand.”
Now, I have deep respect for my father as for so many years he worked hard to support me and my family, providing us with the best that he can afford. I feel guilty for the disrespect that I showed my father in the past. I misused the things that was for my convenience and took them for granted.
I now know, unless and until you experience the true meaning of hard work, you will never know the convenience that your family is providing you. At last, all I can say is “one can never understand, what one has not experienced.”
– Sagun Sthapit
