Lalitha Venkatraman
Covid-19 has pushed us into the four walls of our own home. Festivities and events have either been postponed or are carried out privately with limited guests. While technology has helped us come closer to share the joy virtually, it is equally painful that it doesn’t give us the opportunity to pay our final respects when our dear ones depart. There is a lack of human touch. What helped me persevere was to cherish the moments I had with my loved one.
We don’t realize the value of a person until we lose them. We forget to express our gratitude and don’t appreciate the existence of beautiful people in our lives. I happened to learn this the hard way when I lost a relative of mine.
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This incident reminds me of a story I happened to come across.
There was once a man who was grieving for his lost wife. While sitting on a bench in a park, a stranger happened to notice the grief in his eyes. The stranger felt pity and approached him and asked his reason for grief. Feeling exhausted, the man looked up in the eyes of the stranger and told that he had lost the love of his life. The death was sudden. The stranger consoled the man and said, “Thank God that I do not have to undergo all these troubles in my life!”
The man felt confused when he heard the stranger’s reply and was naturally curious to know more. The stranger replied, “I have no one to grieve for. I have no spouse, no siblings, no kids. I was even estranged from my birth family. In all my fifty plus years, I have been leading a life on my own terms. I am glad that I never married. I can’t even imagine the kind of pain you are going through.” The widower was baffled at this. He realized how fortunate he had been to have had a loving companion who had given him a pleasant life, a beautiful home, a loving son and a family for the rest of his remaining years. Though he still felt the pain of loss, he realized that he had something to cherish till the end of his life. He hugged the stranger and felt an immense sense of gratitude after gaining a new perspective.
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“I have no one to grieve for.”
This statement has had a profound impact on me! While we do feel immense pain when we lose our dear ones but it’s only because we feel we have lost someone precious to us. We are fortunate to cherish the valuable and lovable moments we had with them in this journey of life. Death is inevitable but it is love that makes this life beautiful.
I believe that one of the most important human skill is to appreciate when someone shows up. Nothing can beat the happiness you bring on someone who values you for just being who you are.
