The evening ritual of a Bulbul at the feeding station in our garden! The Bulbul Birds are noticeable for their well groomed body! It is a habit inherent to most birds. It points to self attention to what is essential.
Anna and I happened to visit a de-addiction and rehabilitative centre yesterday, when we heard stories of adults and children who have been on self-destroying path with alcohol or habit forming drugs.
One story that we heard was of a pre-adolescent boy growing up with grandparents, while his parents worked overseas. A separation from his parents form early school years !
Another story was of an artisan who was harassed by the bank for delaying to pay the loan taken for building his house! His alcohol dependence has made his family dysfunctional.
The Bulbuls lived attentively and ritualistically! The boy and the adult followed a self-destryoing path!
The counsellor in the centre is an experienced social worker who now has evolved a follow up plan for those who are being rehabilitated to be the key people in their community to befriend those who are alcohol or drug dependent. It seems to create a neighbourhood support group for those who are slipping into alcohol or drug abuse.
The eighteen people in residential programme for rehabilitation come mostly from middle class families. That added to the stress as alcohol dependence distressed the families financially!
When I grew up in my village, what was common was people meeting together in tea ships in the morning and evenings. Now the tea shops are few. Bars have replaced them!
A social anthropologist, studying behaviour profiles of people mentioned that when homes are stable and relationships are harmonious, people follow a rhythm of living attending to the wellness of each other! But when homes fail to be nurturing and upbuilding, the behavioural aberrations set in. One observation was the breakdown of communication at home, as watching of TV has replaced conversational times, family times and joint leisure time activities.
Anna and I returned from our visit, wondering why the emotional health of families is not in the agenda of the social structure in the community! The wellness level of families affects social stability!
Anna and I returned from this visit knowing little more about the complexity of habit forming addictions in the community! People choose to live responsibly when they feel valued, cared for and befriended! We need better fabric of social support to befriend people who feel burdened by their adverse circumstances!
There are some people who seek help when they are in difficult situations. There are others who suffer silently and slide into the downward path of helplessness!
We need greater social vigilance to monitor the wellness of people in the community!
M.C.Mathew (text and photo)
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