Flowe refreshment!rs bring

All the above flowers in our garden have a short life of a few days.

But the desert roses below have stayed blooming for three weeks now without loosing their colour and brilliance even in the soaring day temperature!

As I stayed with this thought, it crossed my mind that just as flower behaviours are different, so is human behaviour  from one person to another person. 

It is when I come to the park the car each day I get a sense of the spectrum of human behaviour. A person parked the car yesterday opposite to the the steps connecting the road to the steps leading to the college canteen that I saw people filing behind each other to access the steps to the ground level to approach the canteen. I almost took a photo, but did not want to expose this  sight publicly!

I was standing to punch at the machine to register my presence and I found two others one form each side pushing their hands infant of me to punch at the machine. 

I waited at the coffee bar a few minutes till I others who came after me ordered loudly their snacks. 

After these experiences, as I was walking back to the department, I found a domestic helper who was mopping floor waiting for me to pass by. I was stopped by another person to thank me for the attention I gave to his relative who cane with their child. Shortly thereafter, another person greeted me to say that the stair case was blocked temporarily because for repair work and guiding me to use another stair case. 

All of us come across such mixture of experiences form others each day. 

What occurred to me yesterday, was a reminder to grow in mindfulness towards others and pursue to do good whenever possible. 

Yesterday, three of my colleagues while saying farewell to me noticed that I had a few hospital charts on my table, which had to be handed over to the Medical Record Section. One of them offered to take them to give to the MRD. I found every excuse to dissuade her from waiting to do so till I completed writing the notes. But she insisted to wait and entered the data in the register and took them to give to the MRD. It involved a detour from he regard path.

It is worth observing human behaviour to learn how we can grow in mindfulness towards others. We can become cynical because of our disappointments or get encouraged by the acts of kindness we receive.

The latter is the way to spread the light of hope!

This world needs to see more of the goodness to stay hopeful amidst a despairing situation! We live at the mercy of nuclear deterrent some countries exercise! With Russia not having been able to occupy Ukrainian territory after one month of fighting, will Russia use its nuclear option is what is on the minds of world leaders!

The United Nations could not stop the invasion of Russia. India is about to enter into a treaty to get oil from Russia while rest of the world is boycotting Russian oil. That would escalate tension between India and the western nations. The coming together of Russia, China and Pakistan into partnership is another worrying factor! India is also in its fold. Strangely all these countries have more of a totalitarian trait in them, although India still claims to be democratic! India is not democratic as it used to be during my growing up years! 

The divisiveness and oppositional views are strong in India that fraternal and cordial responses towards each other is fading away! I feel anguished! Are we not humans and citizens of one India beyond our political or religious identity! There was a solace to hear Mr Rahul Gandhi speak in the Lok Sabha that India is a union of states and a land of diversities. But even the political party of which he is a senior leader is not able to get people on his side to win elections! The majority seem to be embracing a totalitarian practice and commitment to the ideology of their choice rather than the idea of India.

Doing good and growing in mindfulness of others is therefore even more needed today! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)