What does a sunrise in the morning bring to light! A garden of flowers, waiting for the light to fall on them to make them present with their radiance and fragrance! A flower is a gift to the beholder! It is a source of nectar for honey bees, butterfly, dragon fly and ants. The sun with its light, warmth and photosynthetic effect make plants thrive!
The thought that passed through my mind as I walked in our garden and took the photographs below in the morning, I felt that these flowers in different stages of their life, receive the sun rays to nurture their life. I felt a sense of gratefulness and gladness setting in within me, because the Sun and its light provide protection and promote life.
During the walk, my thoughts drifted to the nations of the world. In the United States, there is an intense divide between two national political parties that the partisan views dominate in the election year with a diminished view of people, their needs and aspirations. The language of aggression and accusation that a former president, currently getting ready for contesting for re-election, uses defies normal civilised debate.
The way, there is an attempt to suppress the voice of the opposition political parties in India, with the national election only ten days ahead, speaks poorly of the current leadership, governing the country. The needs of people get marginalised with passion for power, position, and control to the extent, that the democratic system appears to be in peril!
The Russian insistence to fight the Ukrainian resistance to the invasion of their territory, has already left the Ukrainians in great distress and loss. But one wonders if any nation really feels the pain of those who suffer including the United Nations Organisation, except for passing some resolutions, which Russia dares to ignore!
Israel, although woke up a few days back, after causing death of over 30, 000 people in its fight against the Palestinians, decided to withdraw its land force from some Palestinian occupied regions, is a poor example of honouring human rights and right to have shelter, food, health care...! I feel hesitant to copy some of the photographs suffering, circulating in the media, as they took too cruel for human mind to comprehend.
I return to the garden, plants and flowers. The nature offers a place for each plant and the sun visits them every day with its radiant gift. The unending giving and nurturing is the inherent nature of Sun and the earth.
When I noticed a dragon fly resting in a plant, I felt even more moved. Even a dragon fly has a place in the garden. It is made to feel safe and protected.
I wonder, whether the nations that I referred to above, have such a sense of protecting the needs and aspirations of the least in the society.
I agonise over how women and children suffer in different ways. How the bottom in the pyramid of economic hierarchy in India, forming about 30 percent of the population, wait for respite and prospects! The accumulation of wealth is promoted and those who have, flourish and those who do not have, are made to wait longingly.
The dew on the jasmine flower below, refreshed me immensely. Even in summer, the temperature drops at night for the flowers to have a protective cover of dew, for them to withstand the summer heat!
The jasmine flower, with a lifetime of only of three or four days, receive protection from the self giving habit of the earth! There is a mystery to this habit of the earth, being protective of what inhabits it.
The humans live on the earth with the calling to be protective of those who inhabit the earth. If some vocal people who control the affairs of the nations, look after the affairs of the political party that they are attached to, or the religious group that they represent or the economic strata they want to promote, it is an aberration and belittles the humanitarian values of dignity, freedom and equality.
I wait for the grace of compassion, empathy and mindfulness to become the language of behaviour of people who lead nations, religions, industry, economic affairs, healthcare, social development, and welfare measures!
I believe that the dew of protection would come to those who suffer and travail in pain!
When late Martin Luther King said, 'I have a dream..', he awakened his nation to view people through another optic of equal opportunities.
When Jesus of Nazareth appeared to some after the resurrection, His message was 'Fear not..'
I hear a young leader of a national political party in India, say this phrase often in the public meetings!
The dew of the summer night!
I believe it to be a sign to us, that life on earth would receive the dew of protection!
M.C.Mathew( text and photo)
No comments:
Post a Comment