HEROES OF DAILY GRIND
“A
hero is a man who is afraid to run away.”
English
Proverb
Florence
Nightingale, once, said: “I am convinced, that the greatest heroes are those
who do their duty in the daily grind of domestic affairs whilst the world
whirls in maddening dreidel.”
We humans have a huge
weakness: we tend to get wooed by the larger-than-life heroes, the ones who show
up wearing their impressive capes. In other words, we settle for the superheroes
when it comes to inspiration, even though we know, that all heroes don’t show up wearing those impressive capes…
In our blind worship
towards the larger-than-life heroes, we fail to notice the real-life ones. They
are there, literally, around us, and they are real. As Florence Nightingale
said, these heroes are quietly engaged in their daily grind of domestic affairs…
But, then, we
only tend to fall for the glamorous, out-of-our-reach heroes. That’s how our
weakness is embedded in our psyche…
Yes, we want a
Florence Nightingale only in our fantasy, not in our daily grind of domestic
affairs! A Mother Teresa or a Baba Amte look glamorous from far, not in our
daily grind of domestic affairs!
Presently,
I teach my students online. Most of them suffer from a mental fatigue… bored of
doing the same thing, and subjected to hours of online bombardment! So, my
bombardment is just one more on them… They already have enough. The lockdown
fatigue has rubbed on all of us… You, me and all. So, while teaching my
students, I can feel it. At times, I feel sorry for them… They are young… They
are so used to roaming out with their friends; and, now, they are forced to be
inside their houses…
True… We feel
bad for the young ones and little kids!
Shilpa* is one of
my students. A couple of weeks ago, she, her elder sister and parents were all
tested Covid-positive and were sent by the authorities to a quarantine
facility. While her parents and sister were symptomatic and kept in separate confinements,
Shilpa, being asymptomatic, was allowed to keep her 3-year-old kid-brother in
her room (he was Covid-negative). But, all through her quarantine period, she insisted
on joining the online classes, both of her college and private tutors. She regularly
sent her homework. When she was sent back home with her kid-brother, she managed
the house very efficiently… She cooked food for her kid-brother, helped him
with his daily chores as their mother would do. Her dad’s health (who suffered
a cardiac arrest while in the ICU) is getting deteriorated every day… He is
still Covid positive. Her mom and elder sister have come home yesterday. Shilpa
carried out her daily grind of domestic affairs like a brave warrior… As per
the ‘protocol of fear’, no neighbours or relatives could come to their help… It
was the ‘Aatma Nirbhar’ of the finest kind!
A big deal?
Yes, Sir… To me,
it is!
To me, Shilpa,
my eleventh-standard student, is a hero – a ‘Shero’. To me, the heroism in our
daily grind of domestic affairs is the true source of inspiration… Who cares
for the glamorous capes? Of what use are they?
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic.: 1. VisionPic.Net 2. August de Richeliuu
Video: Shawna Edwards
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