I was never been very keen on the ambulances that screamed past me, perturbing my quietude, until my spouse, Sunitha pointed out to me the need to pray for those grieving men and women inside the vehicle. Since there were a couple of hospitals not very far from my home, I have been calloused by constant encounters with hurrying ambulances. Sunitha’s voice suddenly struck my head with a thought: what all things might be happening inside an ambulance! Oh God! There is a steam house of emotions intertwined with strangled breaths, within that white painted vehicle… An ambulance is a symbol of the insensitivity that is growing in us…
Someone’s life is at stake – hanging between life and death! Dark clouds are creeping into the firmament of a few others’ lives. The heat of sickly breaths… sobs…panic…! There is a world inside the ambulance. We would wonder if the ambulance was screaming so loudly to hide the screams of that inside!
The ambulance is the symbol of everyone’s private world – people often conceal their most intimate agonies and sorrows with loud howls and hoots. Many worlds are passing before us, often unnoticed. An ambulance, in a way, indicates that most lives, in their depths, are concealed from us. We have really lost our sensitivity.
We can never really grasp the agony of the other until we literally pass through the same pain. Only those who have gone through painful experiences can understand the pains of others. What is the reason for growing insensitivity amongst our generation? Is it that we do not have enough excruciating experiences? Or that we have a special skill to run away from pains?
History gives us the lesson that the mere experience of pain does not make one sensitive or compassionate. Take the story of Tamil Tigers or Naxalites. They have gone through excruciating experiences. But, instead of developing sensitivity, they moved to the other extreme – they chose the way of cruelty and retaliation. So, compassion is a different kind of inner light. To nurture compassion, one need not go through the excruciating experience as a rule. Buddha did not go through painful experiences personally. He was a witness to human agonies, but they filled his heart with profound compassion. That is a different kind of light.
We are witnesses too. But being a passive witness helps little, unless the pains of others touch our hearts and appeal to our conscience. Often, we take the role of a photo-journalist, watching the suffering of others passively, almost heartlessly! We even make funny remarks or even troll them.
When ambulances scream ahead, we imitate the howl like some naughty street children! Remember, someone’s life is sinking inside! Who knows, someone who passes by in front of us silently or another one who howls like a moron might actually be hiding a sea of agony within…
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Someone’s life is at stake – hanging between life and death! Dark clouds are creeping into the firmament of a few others’ lives. The heat of sickly breaths… sobs…panic…! There is a world inside the ambulance. We would wonder if the ambulance was screaming so loudly to hide the screams of that inside!
The ambulance is the symbol of everyone’s private world – people often conceal their most intimate agonies and sorrows with loud howls and hoots. Many worlds are passing before us, often unnoticed. An ambulance, in a way, indicates that most lives, in their depths, are concealed from us. We have really lost our sensitivity.
We can never really grasp the agony of the other until we literally pass through the same pain. Only those who have gone through painful experiences can understand the pains of others. What is the reason for growing insensitivity amongst our generation? Is it that we do not have enough excruciating experiences? Or that we have a special skill to run away from pains?
History gives us the lesson that the mere experience of pain does not make one sensitive or compassionate. Take the story of Tamil Tigers or Naxalites. They have gone through excruciating experiences. But, instead of developing sensitivity, they moved to the other extreme – they chose the way of cruelty and retaliation. So, compassion is a different kind of inner light. To nurture compassion, one need not go through the excruciating experience as a rule. Buddha did not go through painful experiences personally. He was a witness to human agonies, but they filled his heart with profound compassion. That is a different kind of light.
We are witnesses too. But being a passive witness helps little, unless the pains of others touch our hearts and appeal to our conscience. Often, we take the role of a photo-journalist, watching the suffering of others passively, almost heartlessly! We even make funny remarks or even troll them.
When ambulances scream ahead, we imitate the howl like some naughty street children! Remember, someone’s life is sinking inside! Who knows, someone who passes by in front of us silently or another one who howls like a moron might actually be hiding a sea of agony within…
SHOP ON: Amazon Flipkart Shopclues Bluerose
WEBSITE: http://abhilashfraizer.in/
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