Gerald D'Cunha

“There is no hope unmingled with fear, no fear unmingled with hope.” Baruch Spinoza   A n Irish proverb says, “Hope is the physician of each misery.” While, on the surface, it appears true, it’s also true, that when we hope for the best, we do not cease to fear the worst… Hope is hope when fear still stares at us, and scares us… Despite our worst fears, if we still hope for the best, it means, that we are living with gratitude and fortitude… The outcome is, certainly, not in our control… Hoping with gratitude and fortitude, always is. A wonderful woman, the mother of one of my students, battled brain cancer for a couple of years. The woman, a school teacher, was such a gentle and dignified soul… The one-who-wouldn’t-even-hurt-a-fly, kind. Yes, seeing this gentle soul go through the painful ordeal was heart-wrenching… Many of us asked: “Lord, why her? Why bad things happen to good people?” There is no answer to this question, I am sure… We can only interpret it with ...

If you are asking me to define my Life by a single stroke – say, how I feel right now, then, you are asking me to commit a huge blunder! Friend, this moment need not define my life… this one single stroke.   For, however ecstatic or horrific this moment might seem, it can not define my whole life. Like a sneeze, it is there in my life, at this moment. But, sneeze is not my life… What about the thousand laughters or winks? The Football Word-Cup final, 2006 comes to my mind. France vs. Italy. Zenedine Zedane, the sage-like French Captain, was to retire in a few moments. It was supposed to be a very emotional, very poignant moment for him, France, and his billion fans, like me... We were waiting for a happy ending. But, what happened was not very happy… far from it. Just in the spur of the moment… in front of a billon viewers and a packed stadium… provoked by something very offending mouthed by the Italian defender, Marco Materrazi, Zedane ...