Thank U India

"Thank U"
how bout getting off these antibiotics
how bout stopping eating when I'm full up
how bout them transparent dangling carrots
how bout that ever elusive kudo
thank you india
thank you terror
thank you disillusionment
thank you frailty
thank you consequence
thank you thank you silence
how bout me not blaming you for everything
how bout me enjoying the moment for once
how bout how good it feels to finally forgive you
how bout grieving it all one at a time
thank you india
thank you terror
thank you disillusionment
thank you frailty
thank you consequence
thank you thank you silence
the moment I let go of it was the moment
I got more than I could handle
the moment I jumped off of it
was the moment I touched down
how bout no longer being masochistic
how bout remembering your divinity
how bout unabashedly bawling your eyes out
how bout not equating death with stopping
thank you india
thank you providence
thank you disillusionment
thank you nothingness
thank you clarity
thank you thank you silence
Alanis Morissette wrote these lyrics after visiting India. I believe she, like anyone visiting India, was humbled to understand what it means to live in India and what it means to have truly nothing.
I gave a talk on gratitude on Sunday which also happened to be Easter. They don’t watch General Conference here because the hours are so off.
It went over pretty well. I guess it did, because the branch president asked Jacob to speak on the same thing, haha. He’s like, “Will you give a talk next week? How about on….gratitude! I love gratitude talks!” Knowing Jacob would prefer not to talk on that seeing as I just did, I intervened and suggested another subject.
Anyway coming to India has changed me maybe more than any other place we have visited. I will get teary every time thinking about the little boy I tutor who is so happy and who loves to learn. He always greets me with a smile, and you’d never know by the expression on his face he had cerebral palsy and an inability to really speak or stand or barely hold a pencil, and a family who abandoned him to a home of nuns. He is so happy for the little things, like getting to read a book.
The meaning of happiness and God’s plan for us has really changed for me too after coming here. I know that God loves all of His children, and for purposes we don’t completely understand, He puts us in different circumstances here on Earth. The atonement of Jesus Christ occurred so that all things would one day be made right. And no matter what the situation, how grateful we can be just for the experience of it all.