related and not necessarily part II

[Guest guest]

The bus I take to get to work daily, sometimes is boarded by a group

of individuals who are mentally challenged. Some of them are

obviously afflicted by Down's syndrome, others are

obviously 'special' as some of the societies have been labeling them.

Mentally retarded is not politically correct anymore, even

though 'they' do not care what the *normal* society calls them! They

have arrived into this lifetime, this experience with a focus that is

different from the rest of *us* and perhaps more meaningful in their

growth as a soul than all the wheeling and dealing that the rest of

us *normals* call a meaningful existence!

 

I will be brutally honest. There are many a days when I smile when

they smile, I feel happy with them, though a part of me may not feel

happy for them! I tend to focus on the happy feeling!

 

But there are days when I do not feel happy for or with them. It

bothered me for a long time until I realized that I and not their

level of happiness or how they go about their lives is the

significant variable (driving my perception!)

 

Against their constant background of whatever they are feeling (I

have no clue what that is -- even though some of them do seem very

happy and very contented constantly!) -- one day I clued in whose

perception is changing and what is driving the experienced personal

reality!! This august forum bristling with wisdom does not need any

hints, I am certain!

 

The most difficult lesson in life is when someone includes in his or

her lifetime curriculum willingly and responsibly to raise a child

that is special!

 

I can and do daily get off the bus and enter my other more

comfortable working reality, but the parents of these individuals who

shake up the reality and focus of some of us individuals -- have a

commitment for life!

 

My respectful pronaams to any or all of these parents and other

family members that have chosen prior to their own birth such a

difficult project in this 'semester!

 

RR

 

, rishi shukla

<rishi_2000in wrote:

>

> Stretching the analogy a bit further, those who

> profess Bhakti/religion in the true sense as a

> fulltime vocation then should be, perhaps, able to

> less and less experience the ill effects of life.

> Understanding life better!