A symbol of Life !

 

Most of the branches in our guava tree have a similar look. The old leaves ready to drop one by one and the new leaves waiting to sprout. 

What fascinated me was the gathering of ants on the tender leaves. They reach in search of nectar. 

The young life has something more abundant than what the older life might represent. It might apparently look like that as ants are drawn towards the sprouting leaves. 

However, what held my attention was a strand in a web that was seen between two old leaves. The strand was connected to the branch from which the new leaves were sprouting. The new leaves sprout from the same sites where the old leaves existed earlier. It is the inherent connection between the young and old. The younger and the older are coherently part of each other. 

One might wonder why this observation is a foundation in family life! Children form the parents and parents nurture their children. It is our children who lead us to give them the space and facility they need. The communicative children and yielding parents together enlarge the instincts and abilities of children. Both of our children followed an active musical interest, which at that time was too demanding in one sense. But their interest sustained us to keep pace with them. As Anna and I get older we look back to celebrate the space they sought for themselves, which helped us to be drawn by their interests.  

What happened in turn was the responsibility with which both of them made their training years in medicine profitable for themselves and for others. They with their families pursue a vocation that is resonant with their aspirations. 

It is significant to accept that the new leaves outnumber the old leaves in the branch as seen in the first picture. The earlier the older people can create a new connection for themselves and allow the younger ones to take precedence in their roles, we would have honoured them to whom we would finally bequeath everything, when our time to bid farewell would come. So why wait to give way at a later occasion than now, for the younger ones in our families and organisations to take charge! 

When we hand over the baton earlier than later, we would have freed the younger ones in our families from the enclosure or entanglements the older people are used to exercise. 

I have begun to make a check list of what I hold on to strongly. It surprises me that most of them are formulations and convictions gained from life experience. There are some material things as well!

I find that even a guava tree is like a companion telling its story to connect with my story!

The seventh decade of life is a period of surrendering to the call from within !

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)