The choices in life!

I noticed this pair of Magpie Robins scout around for a nesting site in our garden. This dry coconut palm has several holes in its stem created by Wood peckers, Parakeets, and Myna birds and others. I have often looked for any sign of any bird nesting there. 

When this pair of Magpie Robins inspected the cavities in the stem and flew away after a while, I realised that they too did not find the place good enough for nesting!

As I watched this and further thought about it, it occurred to me that even the birds make choices at critical times in their life span. They have their specifications as to where they shall nest. 

During the on-line consultation yesterday I listened to a mother who described her four years old daughter who made tremendous progress since we were in touch with the family for the last one year. Her language skills, communication skills, social skills and interactive skills which were below the expected level caught up significantly. The difference was that her mother chose to work from home with a cut on her salary and engaged her daughter in an interactive way, replacing the exposure to the screen time of about six hours that her daughter  was used to. 

I felt enthused by the choice her mother made to offer the support her daughter needed to have a healthy and stimulative home environment. That choice made the critical difference. This four years old child was recently chosen for her kindergarten studies in a local school. 

We are surrounded by several choices in our lives. We make choices based on the benefits they would bring to us or others!

I remember a choice I had to make about two years ago. Withe the COVID pandemic, I was advised to restrict contacts with children personally in order to stay protected from exposure to the infection. My friends advised me to do so in view of my age and some health related  co-morbidities I carried. The on-line consultation services started in response to this. A month later, some parents were keen visit for physical consultations. That was the beginning of the uninterrupted physical consultation we could offer during the last two years. I could not persuade families to be satisfied with on-line consultation especially those who were seeking consultation for the first time. 

Now looking back, over the last two years, I found that it was the best choice that I could have made. The five day physical consultation and one day on-line consultation provided enough support for families during the last two years. 

I feel grateful that my colleagues at work and I kept well during this period of two years. It was only ten days back some of us in the department had to self isolate ourselves on account of exposure to COVID. Each of us recovered well, thanks to the vaccination we received. 

Sometimes we have to make choices beyond the logic of our comfort and safety. When the needs of others dominate and call for attention, it would be wise to take decisions in favour of others and their needs. 

Late professor V Benjamin of the department of Community Medicine had returned after rush fellowship in Internal medicine from the United Kingdom in the early sixties and joined the Christian Medical College, Vellore. Instead of joining the depart,ment of medicine he was asked to take charge of the department of community Medicine. The community Medicine department was in its dormant stage at that time. I remember asking Dr Benjamin about it during a conversation. He said, 'He felt that the need in the community Medicine department was more that what was in the Medicine department at that time'. He spent about twenty years developing community Medicine department making it an Internationally well known centre innovating in primary and secondary health care. When he was retiring, one of his colleagues mentioned in  the farewell talk that 'Dr Benjamin chose a less travelled path for his professional service'!

Who benefits form the choices we make! I hope we would prefer to choose for the benefits of others!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)