Presence in darkness!

I watched this Magpie Robin perched on a cable in the dark, when it was around five am. During the next one hour, when I took series of pictures, I noticed that the Magpie Robin remained still and waited for the dawn to break, to fly away. 

The darkness has multiple metaphorical meanings!

On metaphor I received from sighting this bird, is its enduring presence. Every bird has to wait for ten hours each night to move out of the darkness around. Most birds spend their nights unprotected from the harms of weather. They have to migrate to warmer climate during a freezing winter!

The stillness of this bird is what spoke to me. 

I remember an incident in a hospital during the COVID season, agreeing to give away the two of their oxygen cylinders to another hospital close by, when they already had three patients on oxygen support. The other hospital was expecting its supply in three hours. That was a desperate situation of darkness to both the hospitals, The hospital which needed oxygen had five patients on oxygen and they were left with only one stand by cylinder. 

I like the way, the hospital who received the request for giving their spare cylinders, till the other hospital received the  supply, got a few staff ready to use Ambu bags to manually ventilate the three patents, if the supply promised by the hospital arrived late.  

The requesting hospital knowing the desperate situation of the other hospital arranged for an emergency vehicle to fetch the supply from the truck that was still about 200 kms away. The supply reached in two and half hours. 

When I heard the story, I felt the darkness,  which both the hospitals experienced during that night. They had very little options left before them. I realised how both the hospitals responded to a situation is an effective way to avoid a panic. They behaved responsibly and creatively. 

The darkness is not final. The light is imminent! 

It is not passive endurance which would be effective when we are in a dark situation. But an active presence by looking for alternatives and looking for open doors. 

I recall an incident, when the only earning member in a five member family lost her job suddenly due to lay off in her company. She wondered how she would manage as the bank savings were only a meagre amount. With the support from a baker, she offered to bake cakes. She had regular order and she was able to tide over the crisis till she found a job three months later.

 

I remember three experiences this mother shared with me while she narrated this. She knew that she was the only person who could work as her husband was recovering from a stroke. She knew that she needed help from someone to market the cakes which she was ready to make. She knew that she would be able to get at least a part time job as an accountant. 

She did not internalise her darkness. She lit a lamp of hope in that situation. 

It is when we allow the darkness to settle down in our mind, we feel displaced and hopeless. The darkness is only another season when we discover our resilient spirit!

Listening to the agonising stories of people in Manipur, who live in temporary shelters, having lost their family, house and possessions, the darkness is intense and thick! But we hear stories of people in the adjoining villages  sharing what they have, when only limited help is forthcoming from the government. 

We are to be pathfinders in darkness for ourselves and  others!

The Magpie Robin endured the darkness till the dawn of the morning! 

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

Wellness in weariness!

During my walk in our garden, I noticed the rose flowers above ready to open. Thy looked fresh, colourful  and the petals in sharp margins. The flowers were fragrant and soon the bees and butterflies would come looking for nectar. 

On the other end of the garden were these rose flowers which blossomed a couple of days  back. Both of them had the petals folded in the edges, only faintly fragrant and carried a withering look! They did bear the marks of exposure to the sun and rain. 

 Sometimes the sights we see create within us a train of thoughts. 

It brought into a focus to enquire into my state of wellness after fifty years in the practice of medicine, out of which forty years were spent with children having neuro-developmental needs. 

I wondered for myself what might be the marks that I carry with me,  following this prolonged exposure to situations of parental distress in having had to cope with the special needs of their children. 

When I retired one month ago, I knew that I was physically and emotionally tired. I felt that I needed a distance from regular clinical work because listening, which was easy and relational earlier, had recently become burdensome and demanding. There was an inadvertent traction to dwell on the difficulties and needs of families in a preoccupied way. I slept well, maintained good physical health in the recent years and did most of the things that I have been used to do. There was a constraint on time and the working hours had prolonged into longer hours. 

The weekly personal audit, monthly break for three days for reflection and rest and taking time to have personal debriefing with a senior friend regularly became erratic for a few years. The work place demands were more than I was comfortable with. The annual retreat that Anna and I were used to, got discontinued for ten years . 

Having sensed this about five years back, I knew that I was no more like the flowers in the first photo. I knew that the last two flowers represented my inner state of weariness. 

I decided to take a break.  I was ready for it three years ago. A colleague who went for neurology training was to be back to take responsibilities in my work place in 2021. I longingly waited for that to happen. But that did not happen. I could not prolong the wait. So when I stepped out of my work place when I turned 75 years, I knew that it was the beginning for restoring wellness and finding the new vocation for the next phase of life. 

During the last one month, the exercise of identifying  the stress factors in the recent years, my responses to difficult situations, and discerning the inner ambience gave me the opening to turn the next phase of life into 'harvesting'. So much has happened in the last forty years!

It was while writing the Neuro-developmental summary of a child who visited in 2013 when he was four years with right sided hemiparesis, who is now 14 years, I realised how his life took a new turn into plentiful opportunities over the years. He is at school, walks, talks and relates normally. There are grey areas of learning, comprehension and cognitive abilities. But he is a person ready to move on to exercise his residual abilities. His parents are a tower of strength to him. 

While reading the clinical of notes I wrote in the hospital record, each time he came to visit, about three times in a year, I felt lifted up in my spirit to see the incremental recovery he made. 

This remarkable story of one child turned my attention to about 20 children with hemiparesis, who have been in similar follow up discipline. It was while remembering their progress and coping skills, I found another optic to look at the previous years. It was in giving, one receives back. It brought an inner ambience of the cause which I was enabled to pursue!

The rose flowers blossom for others. In the process, flowers whither and fade away in the fullness of time. I liked how the last tow towers had water drops on the petals, a reminder of provision to amend the dryness in the petals. 

Till when one's time has come to fade away, it is good to live full, well and abounding. It is for this reason each professional person ought to have a personal development plan. It is this approach that can protect a person from weariness setting in before time.

As I move thorough the process of recovering from weariness, the message I carry with me, is that wellness amidst weariness is also a reality!

A doctor who had to appear twice for the NEET examination to qualify for his post graduate studies, spent his in between time helping medical students in the final year,  who were struggling after the COVID season without enough clinical exposure to bedside clinics. He turned his disappointment in to an opportunity. 

Finding wellness amidst weariness or anxiety!

Life is for Living, Learning and Growing!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Listening to become a neighbour!

At day break, I heard the bird call of a Bulbul and I walked in that direction. The bird call,  in the stillness of the morning, immediately after the rain receded, was tunefully striking in the ear. As I watched this Bulbul, I noticed a bird movement in the vicinity. 

The first bird to to arrive was another Bulbul, photo below, and perched itself in an adjoining tree, moving its body attentively in the direction of the bird call. Its stillness and rapt attention to the bird call was indicative of an emotional response. The three phots below of this Bulbul suggest that the attention to the bird call was by choice. 

Soon I noticed the arrival of another Bulbul in a tree close by. The Bulbul below, positioned itself to hear the bird call in the direction, from where the call originated.

The two listening Bulbuls stayed till the Bulbul who was giving away the Bird calls, flew away to another flight station. 

The singing Bulbul and the listenings Bulbuls!

Although this might be a common feature of avian behaviour, it stayed with me for a while in the morning. 

On a Sunday morning, this scene created a resonance within me of the story of Samuel, who having heard him called by his name three times, when he was lying down, came to Eli, the priest, to enquire if he had called him. The priest discerning that it was God who called Samuel, suggested to Samuel, to say next time, 'Speak Lord, for Thy servant is listening' (I Samuel 4:9). It was this listening attitude that enabled  Samuel to hear what God had to say about Eli and his sons. 

The listening attention is a habit that I find  hard to practice. There is a hurry to speak. While listening, one can be dragged by one's thoughts or responses that the listening attention gets replaced by organising the thoughts to speak. 

The two Bulbuls listened with their whole body. They remained still and their look conveyed the intent to listen. Their body remained still and turned towards the direction of the bird call. 

I find a simialr look in Dulcie's face when we call her. She would look intently and wait to hear  what we are about to say! When I ask her, ' want to go out', she would wag her tail and get up to go. If she does not want to go out, she would come close and give a lick. 

The listening attitude calls for attention and regardful processing of what we hear and whom we hear. Listening without hesitation or inhibition is a way of being fully present to listen.

I find that, three attitudinal behaviours can spring within us when we give attention to listen. I feel drawn in to what is being spoken, which is one way of regarding the person who is speaking.  In being drawn into the orbit of another person's thoughts and needs, there is an opportunity to be self giving as a token of receiving the person who is speaking. A person speaks to be heard and received. What proceeds from this is the feeling of an inner nearness towards that person. The nearness is to the person and not towards his or her thoughts. A person takes precedence over his thoughts or behaviour. 

A moving illustration of this came from the attitude of Jesus of Nazareth towards Nathaniel (John 1:46-47). When Philip invited Nathaniel to come and see Jesus, Nathaniel said in a despising manner: 'Can any good thing come out of Nazareth'! When Jesus saw Nathaniel, He said, 'Behold an Israelite, in whom there is no guile'! Jesus saw in Nathaniel a person of virtue. Jesus transcended the attitude that Nathaniel had towards Him. Listening is a way of becoming a neighbour to the one who is speaking. To be a neighbour would mean to 'love the neighbour as yourself'!

The singing Bulbul had two listening neighbours. 

 

What inspires me is this call to so listen and speak that we receive the other person as a neighbour!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

The small beings!

Among the small creatures in a garden, Butterflies and Dragon flies capture my attention. 

The bees, ants, grass hoppers, spiders, beatles, bugs, wasp etc are other little beings that I come across in our garden.

Why is butterfly important! There are migrant and resident butterflies in a garden. The migrants come for nectar and the residents live their life cycle in the garden. I keep a watch on the Butterflies because they are normally present in a healthy garden, where chemical insecticides are not sprayed. 

The dragon flies reside where there is grass and weeds carpeting the ground. They also live their life cycle in gardens or beside streams. They avoid paces where there are lots of bird movements as some birds hunt them for their food. 

What is common between both of them is their quiet presence. You find them only when you look out for them. Theirs is unlike the birds who make their presence known through their bird calls and flight movements.

The Butterflies and Dragon flies do not have a protective cover, except in some public gardens, where a corner is dedicated to grow plants, which the butterflies thrive on during their breeding season.  

The colours and designs which they provide on their body, often get noticed and photographers and artists make them as their subject of art. 

They are small, but beautiful to the beholder's eyes. 

They take care of themselves and add to the richness of a garden.

The little beings in our homes are the pre-school children. Yesterday, a Paediatrician in a meeting observed that pre-school children get attended at their homes by a third parent -the visual media! I have come across families who allow the pre-school children to watch entertainment in the TV or mobile phone, mostly cartoons or film songs, all the time when they are awake. They are fed while they watch the entertainment. The human interface of conversation, play, story telling, singing, etc are uncommon in many homes. 

Are we subduing our children to a unhealthy quiet presence!

All pre-school children need social engagement, interactive play, outdoor activities, structured times of creative activities and exploration of the environment for them to grow in a sense of enquiry and observation. They do it by seeing, hearing, touching, sensing, and interacting. Parents are their immediate companions. Parents sometimes look out for parent substitutes. The media has become the third parent in many homes. 

The Butterflies and the dragon flies thrive in a favourable environment!

I wonder whether our pre-school children have a favourable environment at home!

It is one time, when there is an exodus of families to overseas countries for better prospects socially and professionally. With both parents working in shifts, when one parent is with a pre-school child, the parent not being familiar to occupy a pre-school child creatively, yields to the lure of the visual media to occupy the child. That is how the distancing of a pre-school child from parents begins. 

I happened to get an opinion from a specialist in pre-school children's TV programme. He told me that a lot of the cartoon series are fantasies, unreal situations like a rabbit driving a car, and sensationalised content to attract children stay glued to the programme. There are fights, violent scenes, heroic events, dangerous tricks and displays, etc. 

What pre-school children need are language and communication skills, behavioural skills, social skill, pre-school skills of attention, observation, interaction and group activities, etc. The children's TV or mobile phone programmes are not directed towards them. The cartoon figures are so unreal that a preschool child at one or two years, get preoccupied with an unreal world and its ways, so much so some  pre-school children speak and sing in simulating the cartoon language. 

I wonder whether we would be earnest to restore pre-school childhood to a human interface of interaction, instead of the present pattern of a machine interface!

The pre-school child needs the interactive ambience of home and not a passive engagement with the visual media!

The pre-school child needs the protection of parents to grow socially, relationally and behaviourally!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Peace as the way!

 This cat in the above photo is a regular visitor to our garden!. 

It takes the same route to come in and go and stays at the same spot, where it can get a  view of Daffny and Dulcie. They bark and indicate their discomfort, but the cat spends its usual time and returns. Often stray cats do not harm, except that they can occupy any safe place they can find, to have their kittens. 

I notice that even stray cats like a remote human contact, because, it stays quietly even when any one is moving about in its viscidity. 

I heard a friend say yesterday that the culture of hatred is a human creation! Even wild animals  live fearfully of humans as they were hunted for a game for ages. 

Live and let others live is the message which people need in Manipur! 

I try to gather some information each day about the situation of families and children in Manipur now. As I read or listen to phone conversation, I get a feeling of fear, anxiety and sense of loss which have frozen people from one community! 

A friend told me yesterday, that early in the month of May 2023, when the conflict erupted, there were groups of people moving about to set fire to houses, public buildings, worship places, of those they wanted to target and harm. The senior members of a worship place wanted to give an appearance to a worship place as  already damaged, so that the mob would see it damaged and would not want to set it on fire. They removed the roof and demolished the entrance part of the building in such a way, they could rebuild it later without too much effort or expense.  The way the houses and public buildings were damaged by angry mob was by burning them. A day later a mob came that way to set fire to the worship place. Seeing it already looking partly damaged, they looked pleased and went on to the next village without causing much harm to houses and other public places in that village. 

The people in that village keep vigil every night in two shifts since then. They gather the waste each night to create fire and smoke in the village at night that the mob seeing the village already burning from a distance, would turn their attention to other places. An ingenuity born out of desperation to escape devastation!

I remember the cat whose intention is to socialise! 

Who would bring this message to the people of Manipur!

I wish the national leadership of this country have hearts that would feel, words that would heal and thoughts that would initiate rebuild relationships!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Four Large colourful birds !

 

I revisited these photographs today and relived the cheer I experienced, when I spotted and photographed them for the first time!

Some memories last. 

One memory that stays with me is one encouragement from an author of collections of his photographs, in 1986, who noticed me take photos of flowers on the road side with a 35 mm compact camera, before the digital photography was available. He wanted to see the prints of the photos. While looking at them he took time to point out what was good about the photos and what could have been better. That was 37 years ago. 

I have an interest to take photos of children, birds, flowers, senior citizens, social events and nature scenes. 

Someone mentioned to me that this blog into its 11th year with few blogs short of five thousand, might have about ten thousand photos, out of which birds and flowers dominate the photos. 

I feel I received an invitation to pursue a sober outlook to life, living and learning from the experience of watching birds and flowers. 

The book of Daniel, in the Old Testament of the Bible, closes with this verse, ' But as for you, go your way, to the end, and the you will enter into rest, and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age' (Daniel 12:13).

Going, finding rest and to receive the allotted portion...! 

As I went my way, I found people who cared and nurtured; children and families who told me their story of needs and aspirations; birds and flowers who pointed me to the creator God. Now that I an older, I long to live in the  joy, of having been blessed with long life and the companionship of Anna in the journey ahead!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Give peace a chance !

I happened to watch the above Butterfly and a blue eyed ensign Wasp, behave relationally during the short dry spell after heavy downpour yesterday. The Wasp kept coming towards the Butterfly and the Butterfly changed its position by rotating its body on the leaf. The way they related surprised me. This species of wasp does not sting normally. The Butterfly therefore had nothing to be fearful about! I could not make out what made the Wasp move around the Butterfly. It was an unusual enthusing sight!

This sight brought a message of relational behaviour!

I received today a video clipping of a choral singing led by Mr Tiamen Aier, forwarded by a former director of CMC, Vellore,  Dr Sunil Chandy, where the song calls for peace, while they sing soulfully crying over the terror in Manipur for the last two months. I am grateful to receive this clipping, which depicts the devastation and rises above it to bring hope and consolation.  People lost lives, and churches, schools, houses, villages etc were set on fire. There were incidents of disgusting and dehumanising behaviour towards women. Many are homeless and stay in community centres. Children lost their parents. They have no schools to go to. 

The Prime Minister of India avoided making any statements on this matter of violence in Manipur in the parliament, over which the the political alliance, I.N.D.I.A. moved a non-confidence motion against the government. He was provocative by suggesting that the I.N.D.I.A alliance is like a few rogue originations, naming even the Indian National Congress as one among the other three he mentioned, which are reckoned to terror organisations. . There was anger and hate in the way he spoke. 

Th people in Israel, are agitating in the streets over the usurping of the powers of Judiciary, by the recent amendment in the constitution initiated by its Prime Minister.

There is a talk of impeaching the current president of the USA over corruption charges raised against him, which happened much before he became the president. A former president is on an abusive path  towards the current president and his administration.  

There are similar disturbing news about tensions and conflicts elsewhere in the world, such as what happens due to the Ukranian-Russian territorial conflict.

We have an unsettling ambience around us.

The Butterfly and the blue eyed Wasp bring a different message. They communicate togetherness and affinity. They give and receive that message while relating to each other! 

There was an ongoing quarrel between two of our neighbours. Anna and I know both families.  It involved them going to the police to settle a dispute. For the last two years, we have been listening to them to see if listening and dialogue would help in being more accepting of each other. At least the eruptions of acrimony have receded. Still a long way to go to be relational! 

I have had my own personal challenges in the recent years, to stay relational with people with whom I was comfortable earlier. I feel that it is an ongoing self education to trust and receive others. I have still a journey before me to see the log in my eye before I turn to look for the speck in the eye of others. 

I felt comforted and moved to watch a Butterfly and a Wasp behave relationally and cordially! This symbol is a vision before me to pursue!

The sorrow, loss, fear and the trauma of people in Manipur is too much for them to bear! Anna and I carry them in our thoughts and join with the chorus group led by Mr Tiamen Aier to pray for peace and healing!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Three birds-Three ways of flying !

 I have been interested to watch birds fly.

Let me share the photos of three water birds flying- white Ibis, Sea gull, and a duck!

The Ibis flies with outstretched wings, the sea gull at least for this portion of its flight had the wings kept upright and a duck with the wings at an angle to the body. It is likely that the three photographs are at three different stage of flying- the Ibis while taking off, the gull while landing and the duck during its flight across a lake. So comparisons can be possible only if all the pictures are taken during the take off, landing or during the course of the flight. 

That apart, what I engaged my attention was the habit of flying itself!

Birds fly to move from one place to another. 

Move by flying!

A bird is suspended by its wings in the air. The air current helps in the movement of flying! The high humidity increases the resistance to flying. 

A bird is alone during its flight although some of them are in a formation while flying to ensure safety and protection for the weak among them. 

A flight is often alone!

Alone we walk in our journey in life! 

Those of us who have been blessed to share our lives with our spouse, we have a co-traveller in this journey of life!

Loneliness is different from aloneness!

Loneliness is a feeling of being left alone and not surrounded by meaningful relationships. It creates an inner void and emptiness. 

I know a senior citizen, who lives alone but is not lonely. His neighbours drop in to enquire about him. He visits three others in the neighbourhood who live alone during the week. He takes  a cooked meal to two people once a week. He invites a few to his home to play carrom and card games at least once a week. He visits a visually impaired person twice a week to read the Bible to him and song for him. 

In a conversation with him, who is in his mid seventies, he told me that we invite loneliness into our lives! His mission is:'Go to others as long as it is possible'! 

We are often alone in our pursuit of our vocation, but would not be lonely, if we carry thoughtfulness towards others and make that as a habit in life!

I have had seasons in life, when taking initiative to stay in touch with others or be mindful of the needs of others was difficult! They were lonely times!

Every time I see a bird fly, I feel a quickening within me to move from being stationed in one place emotionally and relationally in this journey of life!

The retirement season can be a time, when this movement has to be even more proactive and purposeful. 

All the three birds moved with their wings differently. They chose their individual style. 

To move towards others relationally involves choosing one's own comfortable style! But moving to relate is a sign of choosing to live fully!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Shades of Truth!

The above picture of a bush, taken at the golden hour in the evening, when the sun was shining on it, gave its natural autumn look. 

While editing the picture, I allowed different light exposures as shown below in the four photos. 

There is a difference between the original first picture and the other four in terms of the colour, brightness and appearance. 

I could not but take this metaphor in to a real life situation to understand the shades of truth that can be associated with an event. 

I happened to hear the description of an event yesterday from three people. Each of them had differing narration of details. The event was a scooterist falling on the road side while negotiating a pot hole. One said that he lost control; the second that he was trying to avoid a vehicle coming coming too close to him and the third said that he was still leaning to ride  a scooter. In fact none of them was on the spot to have watched the event. I happened to meet him in a shop and asked him if he was hurt when his scooter slided on the road. He said that as the pothole was waterlogged, he had not slowed down the scooter to be safe. 

As I listened to the four versions I realised that there is a difference between truth and impression. 

I confess that I too have fallen in to this slip often. Instead of seeking to find the truth as much  authentically as possible, I got carried away with my impressions. 

What changed the appearance of the picture of the bush above, is light which determines the exposure factor in photography. 

The truth in a give situation is affected by the subjectivity caused by one's own optic and inner filters. We often hear and believe what corresponds with our perspective or opinion. 

I recall the theory of folly of confirmation in dispute resolution!

A person believes in his or her opinion and is seeking to get evidence to confirm that his or her perspective is the truth. When the required evidence is not forthcoming, there is an effort to distort facts to confirm his or her earlier presupposition. 

In that sense truth often remains concealed, scattered and hidden. 

In the science of statistics we are working on the assumption of occurrence of an event based on the theory of probability. One gathers evidence from investigations to prove that there is high chance of something to be true, based on the reliability we attribute to the P value and other complex statistical tools we use. The science of statistics once suggested that there might be a risk associated with immunisation with children developing autistic behaviour. Later further international collaborative studies disproved that theory of probability and linkage. So truth gets sometimes bartered between circumstantial evidences. 

I wonder whether truth has a larger dimension in one's life, beyond what can be proved by evidence! In the practice of Jurisprudence, the justice system relies on eye witnesses and evidences. What if the witnesses collaborated to create a story other than what really happened! 

Let suggest that truth lies disguised or covered. What is made to believe popularly may not be the entire truth. 

When king Solomon, about whom we read in the Old Testament of the Bible,  was confronted by two mothers, both claiming be the mother of a living child,  the king decided to divide the child between the two. It was then the true mother  of the living child offered that her son be given to the other woman rather than kill the child. The other woman, who was not the living child's mother was comfortable for the child to be killed.  Thus when King Solomon settled the dispute between two quarrelling mothers, as to whose son is the living child, the wisdom of the King brought out the truth that remained in ambush (I Kings 4:29-34). 

Let  suggest that truth is evasive to a crafty and manipulating mind. 

It is a discerning mind which would seek for the truth and pursue it!

Our remind is a reflection of our inner conscience, whose moral thermostat is the ethos of life we subscribe to. 

In the words of Jesus of Nazareth, the light within us is what illuminates our inner and outer path. 'If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great I step darkness'!(Mathew 6:23). It is the reading and meditating on God's word written in the Scripture, which illuminates us and leads us into all truth.  

There are shades of truth. That is not the whole truth. The photos of a bush above had different shades of brightness, but the first picture alone was original. The rest were edited versions. 

To be truth finders and truthful, we need a mind that is wholesome and free to receive the truth!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

 

Living free and well!

This bird above a Straw necked Ibis, an Australian native bird is different from the white Ibis we come across in India. It derives its name from the straw like neck feathers it has. It is also a well groomed bird, which lives in dry and wet land and flies distances to find its food and breeding site. 

The bird below, a Torresian Imperial Pigeon, a white pigeon with greyish black tail, silver tipped bills and white body is another bird known for its exquisite habits and bird behaviour. In this species, there are Yellowish Imperial pigeon and Pied Imperial pigeon. These pigeons are mainly seen in the wooded areas.

I was seeing both these birds for the first time. 

I remember the surprise and excitement when I spotted them, not knowing anything about their species and habitat. 

I am not a person with any unusual sense of curiosity. However, birding has aroused within me a sense of the spectacular sights one can find in the avian world. 

The human life and bird life have something in common. Humans inhabit their dwelling places built by their hands in modern times. The birds also live in their nests during the breeding season and live rest of the time in trees and land, which they do not own. They live free and flourish without encumbrances.

The birds are migrants and travellers. They live feeding on what they receive. They fend for themselves each day. It is not common for birds to go hungry or feel the agony of starvation. 

The Ibis above lives on insects from the ground and the pigeon on fruits from trees. 

The birds live with freedom unlike the stressful existence of humans due to the clutter and burden they create for themselves. 

One disturbing thought I come across among young people is the craving for wealth creation! To have more seems to a normal instinct. 

However, I wonder if it is a self harming behaviour. 

Mr Ratan Tata in a confession recently said, 'I had no friends when I needed them'! Among the industrialists, he stands out as one with a large heart and outstanding integrity. Even he suffered without friends when he needed them. 

I wonder whether we are pursuing after wealth only to suffer a void at the end of a life long journey of acquisition! 

I wish, the wealth of building friendship would take precedence over going after wealth that generates greed. 

In the parable Jesus of Nazareth, the rich man thought of building new barns when he had an abundant yield from his field at the time of  harvest. He did not think of sharing the excess grain with others who needed them (Luke 12:18 ).

The pursuit of wealth creation and greedy instinct are interlinked. 

I wonder whether we can reduce our material needs so that we do not need so much more resources to live well!

The Ibis and Pigeon in the above photos remind me that they live well. They have no veterinary doctors to care for them. They live well and give us a resonant message, the Heavenly Father provides ! 

Anna and I live in our seventh decade of life! I find that friendships and memories of them have become a significant source of our wellness. If 'it is in giving we receive', then increase the giving is a way of living! 

I wish I can add the dimension of forgiving as another attitude to life and living! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)