I am amazed at how much a trip to the hospital can remind you of the important things we forget or take for granted in life.I had to make a few hospital visits these past few days and though I dread the heavy sterlized atmosphere that makes me immediately lethargic, I must say I learnt (or relearnt) a few lessons.
The first time was to visit a relative who had been refered all the way from Tsirang. She had not only managed to get thrown outof a moving truck but had also, fortunately, manage to excape with just a broken leg. Family and well wishers kept telling her how lucky she was, in most similar instances, the person thrown out gets squashed by the rear wheel...brrrrrr..gives me the chills.
Anway, she had been operated on and was lodged in the orthopedic ward. The ward is on the third (or was it the fourth?) floor of the new hospital building. You would know once you near it - people on crutches would be getting their exercise hobbling to and fro in the ward's corridor.
I took some time locating her..so many people with their arms, legs and what not in white casts. I saw her and quickly went into the room, which was shared by six other patients. She had her two sisters as attendants and as I sat on a stool by her bed, I saw how they fussed over her blankets - was she hot? was she cold?..oiled her hair..
Galncing around the room at the other patients I observed a baby girl had her leg in a cast (she was still being breast fed by her mother), there was an elderly women with a broken arm (I learnt later she had accidently tied herself to her cow's tether and got thrown and dragged on the ground). And then there was a boy, ten or eleven years of age, he seemed to be in pain and he kept crying out now and then. His cabinet near the bed did not exhibit any tiffins, flasks or other goodies and I saw that his mom was a bit dull and hard of hearing (I learnt later that the little boy was the only so called "normal" one in the family, his father and two other siblings had difficulty speaking).
That room was suffocating. It was full of pain and sufferring and injustice and at the same time poignantly overflowing with love and compassion and renewal. It reminded me of the saying about a person who bemoaned the fact that he had no shoes until he met a man with no legs...We have so much to be thankful for, grateful for, happy for, joyful for..but we miss the beauty around us a take and so much for granted..I was grateful that day for my health, for my children's health, my family's health...
The next few occassions were when I escorted my dad for the special consultaton services the hospital now offers. The doctor spent some time examining my father and asking him questions and as my father recounted his numerous ailments, I felt ashamed. Was he not living with me? Had he not complained about his pains? How did I not hear or know? As I observed my father nodding or answering the doctor feebly, I thought of dying and death. Milarepa once said - We do not know which will come first, death or dawn. But was I prepared to face such a loss? and more importantly was he prepared?
Lessons in life are everywhere. I have learnt I have much in life to be thankful for. I have learnt it is important to be really there for the people we love but take for granted. I have learnt now is all that we have and making the most of it is what counts.
The first time was to visit a relative who had been refered all the way from Tsirang. She had not only managed to get thrown outof a moving truck but had also, fortunately, manage to excape with just a broken leg. Family and well wishers kept telling her how lucky she was, in most similar instances, the person thrown out gets squashed by the rear wheel...brrrrrr..gives me the chills.
Anway, she had been operated on and was lodged in the orthopedic ward. The ward is on the third (or was it the fourth?) floor of the new hospital building. You would know once you near it - people on crutches would be getting their exercise hobbling to and fro in the ward's corridor.
I took some time locating her..so many people with their arms, legs and what not in white casts. I saw her and quickly went into the room, which was shared by six other patients. She had her two sisters as attendants and as I sat on a stool by her bed, I saw how they fussed over her blankets - was she hot? was she cold?..oiled her hair..
Galncing around the room at the other patients I observed a baby girl had her leg in a cast (she was still being breast fed by her mother), there was an elderly women with a broken arm (I learnt later she had accidently tied herself to her cow's tether and got thrown and dragged on the ground). And then there was a boy, ten or eleven years of age, he seemed to be in pain and he kept crying out now and then. His cabinet near the bed did not exhibit any tiffins, flasks or other goodies and I saw that his mom was a bit dull and hard of hearing (I learnt later that the little boy was the only so called "normal" one in the family, his father and two other siblings had difficulty speaking).
That room was suffocating. It was full of pain and sufferring and injustice and at the same time poignantly overflowing with love and compassion and renewal. It reminded me of the saying about a person who bemoaned the fact that he had no shoes until he met a man with no legs...We have so much to be thankful for, grateful for, happy for, joyful for..but we miss the beauty around us a take and so much for granted..I was grateful that day for my health, for my children's health, my family's health...
The next few occassions were when I escorted my dad for the special consultaton services the hospital now offers. The doctor spent some time examining my father and asking him questions and as my father recounted his numerous ailments, I felt ashamed. Was he not living with me? Had he not complained about his pains? How did I not hear or know? As I observed my father nodding or answering the doctor feebly, I thought of dying and death. Milarepa once said - We do not know which will come first, death or dawn. But was I prepared to face such a loss? and more importantly was he prepared?
Lessons in life are everywhere. I have learnt I have much in life to be thankful for. I have learnt it is important to be really there for the people we love but take for granted. I have learnt now is all that we have and making the most of it is what counts.
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