During the funeral of a noted figure of the city, I overheard many of those present there, praising him. He surely was a person of great achievements, greater values and above all a heart that was ready to reach out to as many others before it finally stopped beating. One of our friends in his Funeral speech having enlisted his greatness concluded that it was a great loss to those who knew him.
As I walked home I was thinking about the deceased person, his greatness and the loss that one incurred by his departure. What my friend had summed up was absolutely right. But I was still sure that he missed something. It, in no capacities meant any difference with my dear friend’s appraisal. Loss…Yes… Indeed it was….. But whose? Surely those who knew him were going to miss him and his gracious presence. But more so it was a loss to those who had an opportunity to be with him, learn from him, receive favors which he willfully doled out and expand their horizons, yet due to their prejudiced versions of his greatness, denied this privilege in their lives to make them better.
At times we indeed behave in strange ways. We talk about every cloud having a silver lining yet spend our energies finding spots on a screen which is going to show us a beautiful movie. We are much eager to follow some school of thought which we love to call our own forgetting that there is always another side to every midnight. We restrict our view point rather than happily encompassing a complimentary thought which would only enhance its original value and enrich our lives.
I vividly remember an incident when on a fine morning with a song in my mind I started for my clinic. As luck would have it I saw a lady limping down the road, screeched to a halt and offered her a lift. This lady though not closely known to me knew me as a fairly decent person. She thankfully accepted my offer. While driving her thro, we had a cheerful conversation. On the way I learned that I had to change my route to drop her to a function. She was indeed grateful that I insisted to leave her at the door. Having reached there in my spirited style I said, ‘Yes aunty….I shall throw you here now’. Probably that was what I generally paraphrased for dropping a person. Had I not completed this while getting down from the car that she gave me a look of utter dismay, a look that unsettled me as she sharply reverted, “You surely are a self conceited man that you can use such a language to an old lady who is already limping?” She turned around and left without another word only for me to be left alone to ‘shift gears’ and move on.
It was time for my introspection. It seemed that kindness of deeds indeed needed to be complimented with well groomed words. How else could ones deeds get overruled by other factors solely on somebody’s perception? Probably there was a story on the other side of the scene that I was not aware of. Remarks howsoever piercing and unfair they apparently sound could still hold a greater meaning. Carping about them shall only disturb our inner space. It’s amazing that the mind that has split atoms refuses to split its prejudices. We in our attempt to expand our horizons have left the earth to reach the moon yet don’t seem to have any agenda to leave our egos.
At times we hold on to a chocolate since we like the wrapper only to find its taste far from our liking and at times throw away the one lovingly offered, as it comes in a wrapper that is just not as pleasing. Truth that we accept as good or condemn as bad is more often than not, a reflection of our own understanding. Our interpretation makes a distant mirage a reality only to rediscover otherwise; though later.
On other hand an all inclusive approach can work wonders. Michelangelo the most celebrated sculptor visited a marble store and found a huge marble rock lying in the corner. To the shop owner’s utter surprise he offered to buy the marble which by all commercial standards was useless and in fact was occupying a lot of space there. He gave him the marble for free as it would save him the cost of transporting and disposing it off. A month later, Michelangelo’s name caught the limelight of the world, to which he gave his most famous sculpture… ‘The Statue of King David’…from the same seemingly worthless marble stone
Our attempt at being good should only have one aim….Making it better ! !
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