Another paradox

This wall poster conveys a paradoxical reality. How can anyone who feels lonely reach out to others to  overcome loneliness!

I had a family of two children with multiple needs share with me how they are in touch with two families who have children with even greater needs. This family has children from the two other families spend one after noon with them every week, to let them have a time of respite and an occasion to find time for themselves. 

I enquired, how they thought of offering this help to their two neighbours. The mother mentioned to me that, ever since they relocated in this new locality for the last two years, they have felt lonely and isolated. Having waited for others to visit them or take an interest in their affairs, which did not happen, they decided to reach out to others who too may have been lonely like them. It was when they were going through lonely experience, they remembered others.

This paradox brings a new dimension to our understanding of human behaviour. It is in caring for others, we would feel cared for; 'It is in giving, we receive' ; it is by befriending we would  receive friendship. It is by reaching out, we would displace our loneliness 

A friend sent me a greeting card when he was feeling very low. He mentioned that it was the opportune time to remember others because, in  so doing he was taking steps to attend to his loneliness. It is not others who are responsible to rescue us from our desperate situations, but we ourselves, by taking small steps which are still feasible.

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)