'Here we go...'

'Masuk ke dalam kambing mengembek, masuk ke dalam kandang kerbau menguak'

So I'm guessing some of you are wondering, what the heck does this mean?
Well, this is a proverb in Indonesian language. When translated literally, it means : When you enter the shed or stall of goats, you bleat like them; when you enter a shed of buffalos, you moo like them.![]

Basically, its like 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do'.

Today, I was flying back to my hometown in Sabah from Penang. I had a long holiday and decided to spend Chinese New Year with my family and friends. Before my flight took off, everyone was busy putting their bags up on the compartment. However, our local airline permits only 2 cabin bags on board and the maximum bags we can put up on the compartment was two. The reason being was to ensure the safety of the passengers and everyone else in the plane. Not only that, it is only fair for other people to put their slightly larger bags up on top. Everyone has a fair space for their bags.

What distracted me from the event was when one of the cabin crew kindly and very politely advised a foreigner to hold onto one bag because he was taking a lot of space on top with more bags. Sitting just a row in front of them, I'm pretty sure the foreigner was pretty upset (I wasn't sure where was he from, but I understood what he was saying as he talked in English). So i heard that he 'never heard such stupid rules...'and the cabin crew (I really respect this guy man), just calmly assured him saying if there were more rooms on top after other people has stuffed their bags in, he would gladly let the man put his bag on top. Again, he assured the man to not worry where the response from the man was 'No. I am worried...' Thank God, everything was resolved.

First off, I am NOT against anyone from other countries nor am I against any race. If this were to happen from a Malaysian, I would not be happy about it myself. But what got me thinking was, this is the rules and regulations of this Malaysian airline. I'm sorry, we cannot satisfy your needs completely, but there has to be a reason these rules were put up. It is for everyone's safety and for being considerate towards other people. Yes, it may seem different from your country's airlines or any airlines; but again, this is Malaysia. You came for a holiday? Instead of complaining, (which he and his lady friend did sometimes throughout the flight), lets take time to be grateful for all the little things ey? Like how we had a safe journey to Sabah? And how you were able to bring ALL your desired bags up on the plane? Again, we're sorry our airlines had a rather strict rule on how we do things. Setting all these aside, I really applaud that cabin crew for his kindness, gentleness and patience in handling different passengers. *RESPECT, RESPECT

Lets take a moment to reflect, are we that type of person who likes to complain a lot? I can say that I was. No doubt I was haha. But it took me some time to figure out that not only my complaints and negativity affected my life greatly, it affects the people surrounding me too. Because of that, I've started to go through everyday, being thankful for the little things in life.

How about you? What would you think if you are in my shoes? :)
What are the little or big things you're grateful for?