The coconut shells get dry as the pulp inside mature and is ready to be used for grating for cooking or drying to turn it into copra to extract coconut oil!
This ageing process making the outer shell dry is a sign of its formation into a fully grown fruit!
One of the challenges that people who get older is to accept the changes in the body!
A child whose knee jerks I was eliciting ,while seated in front of him with my head down, felt my grey hair and told is parents, 'his hair is grey' His parents told him that 'he is getting older' ! One compliment that his parents offered me brought cheer to me, 'he is sitting on a Children's chair'!
To grow older and pursue being like a child, to express trustful behaviour and attitude of belonging is what come to me as I enter the phase of late life. The mid life comes to an end at seventy five years and the late life begins!
In the fullness of time the coconut is fully grown. The late life can become a symbol of a fully grown human life!
I want to explore the features fo a fully grown human life!
Three thoughts come to my mind.
First, the fully grown human life is an expression of gratefulness ! The life till seventy-five years has been lived in the theatre of actions and events, made possible by the formative experiences at home and enabling experiences at work place. The abundance in life was a gift from people and situations! The grace of gratefulness is what characterises a person, who has grown into an attitude of contentment and gratefulness.
Second, a fully grown person is a giving person! It is a time of letting go and be mindful of the needs and aspirations of others, family, friends and strangers alike. I saw a senior citizen the other day, carrying a piece of wood to make them into building blocks to give to school going children in his neighbourhood. What a thoughtful way of giving! Gifting others with skills and abilities to make their lives more cheerful and flourishing!
Third, a fully grown person is a person who leads a simple life. A simple life is a confluence of ordinariness, virtue, and mindfulness. It does not convey a self absorbed orientation, amplifying aches and pain in the body, decline of memory or emotional upheavals. Instead it is a life, where others are allowed to occupy larger space and attention. The late years of life are lived with less needs, demands and desire for gratification. The consciousness of abundance life thus far lived reduces the need to look for recognition and acknowledgement. A fully grown person lives his or her life, making it easier for others around them, and freeing them to pursue the fullness of living, while they are still young, instead of making demands and burdening them with expectations.
A coconut when fully ripe has pulp and coconut water inside. It is housed in a drying shell. It is for others!
I wish, this thought and and calling would give me an orientation to live the next phase of late life!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
No comments:
Post a Comment