"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live." Marcus Aurelius
“Are you scared of living or are you scared of death?” or does this question scares you more than life and death?
Oh, never mind. I am just curious.
If you ask me, I am scared of both depending on the situation.
But hey, wait a minute. Do we really need to think about life and death? What I mean is , why cant we think about the things in between life and death?
Ok, for the sake of argument. Let me think. What’s in between this life and death?. There is me with a bold “I” screaming out and yelling to prove my existence. The bold “I” which thinks that survival is the only thing that exists in between life and death. But if death is certain then why survive?
Oops, a vicious circle. So is it worth to survive? If survival is everything then whats the difference between a human and a beast? Can you figure out any ? We both survive, live and die. So what could be that one thing that could differentiate me and you from the beast?
What? Say again. Oh, you got it. Humanity. Humanity my friend, humanity. Well, its shame that there are only few of them left, so it could easily be one of those endangered species. What about me? Well, I am half human half beast. Each decision is the outcome of the constant struggle between this beast and human. I could only pray that humanity wins.
Hey, if you are human, one of those rear species,then you got to guard yourself. Because there are beasts who would try to bend, twist and break you until the human in you succumbs to death. So , I guess we got to practice humanity otherwise you could be one of those endangered species.
Now, once you start practicing humanity, somewhere in the midway, you could face some questions like, “What’s the height of Humanity?” Well, I didn’t have an answer. But guess what, HE gave me an answer last Monday.
Am I kidding? Na, I don’t think so. HE was in a news paper.
A short-lived toddler’s parting gift
K. Venkateshwarlu
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Eighteen-month-old Ishaan succumbs to brain tumour, but lives on through others, having ‘donated’ his eyes and kidney
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— PHOTO: P.V. SIVAKUMAR
BRAVE heart: Swathi Vedam holds the photo of her son, Ishaan , whose organs she and her husband Venugopalan Vedam (not in picture) donated, in Hyderabad recently.
HYDERABAD: Putting behind the grief of losing the apple of their eyes, eighteen-month-old Ishaan, to a killer tumour, a courageous city couple donated his eyes and kidneys, making him one of the youngest multi-organ donors in the country.
“It was a tough decision but we took it as we wanted to make his short life meaningful. We could now see him live through the eyes of two otherwise visually-challenged youngsters and a middle-aged woman, who had suffered kidney failure,” said Ishaan’s mother, Swathi.
Ishaan was born on April 14, 2006, as a normal bubbly baby to Swathi and Venugopalan Vedam, both software engineers employed with IBM and Infosys respectively.
“There was no health complaint till Dasara last year. Suddenly he started vomiting and we thought it was a simple case of indigestion or electrolyte deficiency.”
Tragically for the young couple it was not so, as Ishaan suffered bouts of unconsciousness.
Complex scans
For a week from October 21, 2007 the couple made several agonising rounds to hospitals and a series of complex scans and tests later revealed that he suffered from a rare type of brain tumour.
Without losing time, the couple consented for a complicated and extremely risky surgery for the removal of the ‘large carcinogenic tumour’. Their prayers were answered when the October 26 surgery was successful. “He came out from near comatose condition, recognised us and cried,” recalled Swathi.
Just when they thought the worst was over, his condition deteriorated and he again slipped into a coma on November 1.
“He was put on ventilator and doctors told us that his chances of survival were bleak. It was then that we took the difficult decision to donate his organs,” she said.
What inspired the couple was the brave decision taken by an Army major to donate organs of his son of the same age as Ishaan who succumbed to grievous injuries in a fall. “My son came into this world and left in a brief time but gave a new lease of life to three others,” she added.
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So, did you meet HIM? What do you think? Does that satisfy my question?
She lost here son. Her eyes are still damp. Her heart is broken. But her soul is still free. Instead of yelling, “ Why God, Why?” , they choce to embrace humanity and make peace with Him.
Now, Can you figure out the height of humanity? If God exists then its here, I guess. He comes, helps and leaves. Those who can figure HIM out, might have won the battle within them.
So is it really about life and death? I don’t think so. Its about, something in between life and death. Its about LIVING and LIVING even after Death.
“You might not have much choice in deciding the time of life and death but surely, the in between time and the time after death is in your hands.”
Do you want to just live and die or do you want to live the human way and continue living even after death? Remember,
“Whatever comes our way, whatever battle we have raging inside us, we always have a choice. It’s the choices that make us who we are, and we can always choose to do what’s right.” – Spider man
