FEELING GOOD OR SATISFACTION

A gentleman entered a shoe store to purchase a pair of shoes. After minutely examining the texture, leather and design of several shoes, he chose a pair and put them on to see the fitting and was satisfied. "Oh fine, they are excellent !" the gentleman exclaimed, and continued, "Now you can take them back, I don't require these. Please bring me another pair exactly like these but one size smaller." The shop keeper was a bit surprised and asked "Why one size smaller, are they for somebody else ?" The man replied "No, no. I'm purchasing the shoes for myself." He looked up at the bewildered shop keeper and with a weary smile and asked "What, you didn't catch on ?" The shop keeper shook his head and said he didn't understand this matter of purchasing a smaller size shoe.
It was a rainy afternoon, there was very little sale. It's been raining for several days and the roads were all slushy. There was no second customer and no new customer was likely at that moment. So he expressed his curiosity to know the reason for purchasing a shoe one size small.
What the gentleman said didn't appear to be irrelavent. After waking up in the morning, he goes to the milk depot to collect milk. There, sometimes in knee deep water, sometimes in the rain, and in other seasons, even after queing in line in the sun for more than an hour, sometimes he gets milk, on most occassions he doesn't. When he returns home with the empty bottle, his wife flares up as if he had intentionally not brought the milk or had drunk it and brought the empty bottle. There was no current the whole of last night; intolerable heat, frightening mosquito bites made the night unbearable. Now, this morning there wasn't a drop of water. After this, frightful marketing. Then followed by rushing to office in an overcrowded tram, tram derailed, late to office, rebuke of higher authority. He's a cashier where he works. Small change is unavailable, public playing dirty tricks, taunting comments, abusive language and on occassions even attempt to assault.
Having ample time and an attentive listener, the gentleman gave a detailed list of his daily mortification to the shop keeper. The shop keeper is not a man from another world, he's very much aware of these things; he also has to face some of these problems. But he has never thought of these things in a seriatim manner. But, even then, what relation purchasing a smaller size shoe has got to do with all these, he just could not understand. However, he got up and brought a pair of shoes one size smaller. The gentleman put the shoes on after a lot of struggle. On seeing his face it was evident that he was in anguish.
The shop keeper has, by this time, taken the gentleman as mad or a miser. But what the gentleman told him after he put on his shoes, not only stunned him, but assured him that he was not mad. The gentleman forcibly put the shoes on and, while limping across the carpet of the shop, told the shop keeper, " Just think that after limping along with these shoes on throughout the day, I come home at the end of the day and take off these shoes, how relieved I'll be, what peace, what happiness, what satisfaction. Morning till evening no milk, no power, overcrowded trams, pot holes, slush, abuse, humiliation. There's no peace, no happiness anywhere, only your one size small pair of shoes will give me extreme satisfaction in the evening when I return home and take them off.."
The matter of feeling good or satisfied is very complicated and totally subjective. At any moment of time or on any one issue, your satisfaction may not be the same as mine. I met a childhood friend of mine last year after a long time. At the end of a long conversation, he suddenly asked me "Don't you like loadshedding ?" Not only this, a sister-in-law of mine loves the smell of shoe polish; my younger brother loves to eat burnt toast; I even know a gentleman who, in the middle of the night, gleefully observes a cat fight on the roof with his binoculars. Mark Twain once stated, feeling good means to melt oneself into loneliness. May be this perpetual vagabond whimsical writer had discovered in his life that whatever you like or love or adore is your own, personally yours. Our whole life flitters away in search of the partner of our intimate liking. That invaluable partner may sometimes be our friend, sometimes our lover or wife, sometimes our child or pupil.
In the unsuccessful poet's language, being satisfied means living well. That poet's impression was that, in the manner in which the evening star looks comfortable in the midst of the white clouds, the manner in which the chrysanthemum nestles peacefully in the lap of the green leaves, our keeping well cannot be the same. Even then, if you think you're satisfied, then you're happy.