THE MANIAC AND THE ANGEL





Pic.: Pradeep Nanda

Toughness and softness are two extreme worlds… So are anger and compassion… Sinfulness and grace. It is just like this world – the globe. If we see this on a flat world- atlas, we come out with the conclusion, that Japan is on one end of the world, the extreme East… and America is on the other end of the world, the extreme West… But, then, when we fold the same world-map and view it as a globe, we can’t believe our own eyes… “Hey, Japan is at America’s backyard!”

If someone told me when I am angry, violently angry, “Friend, you are inches away from compassion, grace, God,” would I buy that logic?

I would, I would!

To me, my anger is something already there inside me… I do not have to put it inside… And, every time the lid bows off… the maniac in me, the monster, comes out… that’s, also, the time, my heart melts the most, knees bend the most… God and grace make sense the most!


I have never watched a single episode of the WWE bouts….the Wrestlemania. “That’s for ‘kids’,” I would conclude. Or, “They are simply stage-managed.” Surprisingly, I do not remember even my son ever wanting to watch it as a little kid. Never even by default!

But, then, just this morning, I was glued to the story of one of the biggest fans of Wrestle mania… Connor Michelek, self nicknamed ‘The Stone Crusher’! Connor adored Daniel Bryan, the Super Wresting hero…

Connor died of Pediatric Bryan Cancer on April 25, 2014, after fighting bravely the terminal disease for four years. He was barely 9. Two years before he succumbed to cancer, when he was 7, the WWE officials and all the great Wresting heroes came forward to bring a smile on little Connor’s face when it was needed the most. They brought the little one to the stadium to meet all his favorites, particularly Daniel Bryan… They placed a robe around the little champ, brought him inside the ring… and got him ‘crush’ the dangerous Triple H!

Two years later, on April 6, 2014, as Daniel Bryan went on to win the crown of World Championship, little Connor watched, from the audience, the great moment along with his dad. As a fitting finale, the freshly crowned Wresting Champ, got off the ring and hugged his die-hard fan. “Connor, you mean a lot to me… You gave me a lot of strength… You helped me win this. Please keep on fighting!” These were the final words of the tough man – the wrestling maniac - while hugging the softest fan of his… The Wresting maniac, probably, had given two more years to little Connor to live on – like a true champ!
.



What if someone told me, “Friend, that, too, is stage-managed?” Or, “That’s kids’ stuff’?

What if someone told me, that there is a maniac in me alongside an angel, too?


GERLAD D’CUNHA

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