WHEN YOU WAKE UP TO OTHERS' PROBLEMS...
Pic.: Chetna Shetty
In the ICU waiting-room at Jaslok, a person - who has been waiting there for over ten days, for his critically-ill wife to recover from brain tumor – has placed at least six inspirational or spiritual books. One of them is ‘Daily Teachings’ by Rhonda Byren, the author of the famous DVD film, and the book, ‘The Secret’.
When my eyes fell on this book, for the first time, I
couldn't resist. He immediately handed the book to me and said, “This is for
sharing.”
I was touched. Ever since that moment, that book has been
there in the waiting room in circulation... People just pick it up, read a few
short-passages contained in the book (There are 366 short inspirational-passages)...
and, they go back and place the book on his seat... I do the same thing... Go,
pick it up... read a few of those passages... feel the silence... and, then, go
and keep the book back...
This hard-bound book is costing Rs.499/-... And, believe
me, nobody dares to rob it away... Nor the gentleman, who most of the time
isn’t there around those books, is worried about his books being robbed... Only
thing he has done is, that he has placed a hand-made book-mark with the writing:
“Please use me as a book-mark instead of folding the pages. I appreciate.”
Rhonda’s sensational DVD and the book are based on the
ancient Law of Attraction. So, as you read the passages in this book – ‘Daily
Teachings’ – you get to revisit ‘The Secret’... the Law of Attraction, and,
particularly, the healing power of the attitude of gratitude...
In at waiting room, there must be at least fifty-odd
waiting-relatives. Someone’s father or mother, someone’s brother or sister,
someone’s son or daughter, someone’s aunt or uncle... the grand pa or grand
ma... even a just-born baby... Yes, inside the ICU some near-and-dear-one is
battling to recover... and, the waiting room is somber with anxiety, fear and
sadness... And, amidst all of them, there you are, with your own anxiety, fear
and sadness...
So, when I was reading the passages in Rhonda’s book, I
could feel the silence... The more I shifted my attention from my problem to others’
around me – I have just spoken to maybe ten of them... and, their situations are
many times graver than mine – the more silent I have become.
For example, there is this poor Rajastani lady. Her
seven-month-old baby is battling with heart disease in the ICU. She has been in
this hospital for forty-five days now, of which fifteen days are spent at the
ICU itself. Before that, for two months, the baby was treated at the Wadia Hospital
What about others? What about the baby’s father, her
husband?
The lady told me that ever since their marriage, her
husband had been torturing her. When the baby was born with heart problems, he
crudely blamed her for it and refused to see both the wife and the baby. It was
her brother, who took them to the Wadia
Hospital
A coffee at he cafeteria costs Rs.25/- and a sandwich
Rs.45/. This lady survives on vada-pav
and cutting-chaai which vendors sell
outside. What is endearing to see is that, some one or the other gets her a sandwich
or a veg-biryani every now and then... She insists not to... Still...
What is also endearing – rather inspiring – to see is, that
she doesn’t spend her time there crying, worrying and blaming!
And, this afternoon, as I was trying to walk into the lift,
I heard someone crying hysterically. It was another young-lady, trying to be
consoled by at least six to seven relatives. The lady’s young-husband had just
succumbed to cancer!
So, did any of these make my burden, my anxiety, less?
You just need to be there, aware and awake... You just to
be there on you knees, telling God, “Thank-you.”
GERALD D’CUNHA
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