What brings a message of hope, while walking on the garden is the buds in the rose bushes. Beyond the blooming flowers, the sight of the buds tells me about the life that shall continue through the buds in the rose bushes.
There is a despair in the air from the news I gather in the newspaper or the television. The approach of Israel towards the Palestinians, leading to the death of over 29000 people and thousands displaced and living in hunger seems unthinkable to me. The political craftiness that the former president of the United States of America to get renominated for presidential contest is a mixture of unfairness and unethical practices. The forthcoming election for a new government in India is also a sight of unthinkable dishonouring practices in a democracy. The lame duck that the United Nations Organisation has become, unable to reign in Russia from the ongoing military assault on Ukraine, is an indication of the approval of injustice by civilised nations.
The future of young people in India with about 25 percent of them not able to find employment and about 20 percent of population living in economically distressing situations, cause distress and anguish to many.
It is this that preoccupies those who are socially conscious of human experiences all around us.
I went out into the garden with these thoughts and found these bushes with buds. That sight lifted my spirit. Amidst the despair, there is a message of hope.
It was the mindfulness of a boy, who had five loaves of bread and two fish offering them to Jesus of Nazareth, about which we read in the 6th chapter of the gospel of John in the New Testament, that led to Jesus feeding five thousand people. The surprise and possibility of a small gesture!
There is something that each of us can do to make a difference to lessen the situations of stress that people go through.
I received a good will gesture yesterday to remind me of the hope in every difficult situation. A neighbour brought a pumpkin from his kitchen garden and told me that he remembered how my parents used to be thoughtful towards him, when he was through a difficult time in his younger days. When I went to a shop to buy fruits, the shop keeper told me that he was wanting to meet me to tell, how his son had improved after treatment for his sleep disorder.
At the end of the day, as I recalled the events of the day, I realised, that we live in a situation of pain and distress. To be open to listen to the
stories of people and feel with them, is a small step to revive the spirit of kindness and hope, which is like a balm of healing and comfort!
M.C.Mathew(photo and text)
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