I have been on a farewell photographic tour of the PIMS campus, for a week now. One of my interests was to photograph trees which were damaged in the cyclone in December, 2011.
This banyan tree was partly uprooted in the storm and had blocked the entrance to the PIMS campus. It was chopped off, but not abandoned. A massive effort was made to prop up the tree with earthen and boulder support at the roots. Its recovery has been slow, but very visible now as you can make out from the second photograph.
Most of the trees have shown signs of recovery, but some have got dried up after an initial indication of recovery.
There are storms in our lives. They are unexpected disappointments, loss, failure, illness or passing away of dear ones, etc.
The challenge is to recover from grief and loss. This calls for considerable attention to restorative personal work.
A family lost their third child immediately after birth due to a metabolic disorder. This time the mother was shattered emotionally. Someone suggested her to offer her breast milk to another baby, whose mother did not have enough breast milk due to some medical complications she had suffered after chid birth.
After three months, she was still donating her milk to the breast bank in the hospital. Her husband mentioned to me that his wife is quickly returning to her usual self and is wanting to be a volunteer in the hospital at the breast bank.
Her loss was repeated three times in seven years and her husband thought it would be difficult for them to recover this time. Recovery from grief is often facilitated by turning our attention to the needs of others. We recover better when, we view others with compassion and reach out to them with love. It is a paradox that we will soon find our void getting filled when we turn our attention to others. It is in giving, we shall receive even more for our needs.
MC.Mathew(text and photo)
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