HEROES

 Pic.: Unnati Jiandani

Beethoven was blind and deaf…

Still, he composed such music that can move us to tears,

or elate us to dreamy heights!

Terry Fox, the little boy of 12, had a few days to die of cancer…

Still, he ran to raise twenty-million dollars for the Canadian Cancer Society,

before he died!

Rick Allen had only one hand…

Still, he played drums, brilliantly, for his band - ‘Def Leppard’!

Dr. Victor Frankl was in the Nazi Concentration camp,

and saw before his eyes his wife, mother and whole family perish

along with millions of others…

Still, he found meaning in those gruesome moments.

From such seemingly hopeless moments,

he weaved his famous philosophy - ‘Logo Therapy’,

and wrote his widely-acclaimed book - ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’!

Helen Keller was blind, deaf and dumb;

Sudha Chandran has an artificial leg;

Baba Amte had a spine with cervical spondylosis, which means,

he could never sit – he had to either stand erect or lie down flat!

What is that keeps such people alive, I mean ‘truly alive’?

There are thousands of real-life heroes around us…

We only fail to notice them.

These people have, practically, gone through hell in their lives…

Still, they have refused to lose hope, lose faith in themselves.

They have refused to lose faith in Life, its purpose!

My life had, relatively, very, very insignificant problems…

yet, I magnified them;

I kept complaining about them, kept blaming others and kept finding excuses…

Till I realized my responsibility…

Till I reignited in my heart, that zest for life!

GERALD D’CUNHA

P.S.:

In 1990, THE DAWN CLUB had published a small book by the title – ‘The Zest’. It had carried some eighteen short and medium-sized passages written by me. The book instantly became one of our very popular books; and, eventually, it was reprinted several times.

We guess, one of the main reasons for its popularity was that it spoke to the reader in ‘first person’… He felt as though he was talking to himself… a soliloquy. Yes, the reader could instantly connect to the voice in the book… and, the message simply seeped into his heart!

The above passage – ‘HEROES’ – is a popular passage from the book.