As easy as falling
What does it take to fall, I wondered. The answer I got was “trust”.
The pondering took me to an incident from my childhood. I was in Grade 3 and we were having running race practices for the approaching sports day. I used to be a very good runner back then and was running confidently. But a freak slip over an errant stone in the track changed everything.
I hopped away from the field not only with a fairly large bruise on my knee but also with my name struck out as being unfit for the races. My pleading with my physical education teacher that I would be alright soon fell on unresponsive ears. She couldn’t trust me to win the race for her. I haven’t been able to run after that. Ever.
As the years progressed, I discovered that one of the unwritten rules of society was one didn’t fall. Or, if you fell, you had to get up ASAP, that too, all by yourself. If you didn’t then you were looked down upon. Also, no one was going to empathise with you and tell you that it was OK to have fallen down. Worse, it was sacrilege to accept that you had fallen and ask for help.
The reason for this prejudiced attitude is because people don’t trust themselves. To offer help. So, we are either rushing in to help where none is needed (and which eventually backfires) or we give excuses where help is genuinely required, thereby setting off a vicious cycle of mistrust all around.
All it takes is one little act of trust, one little word of compassion, one person with courage to set off a series of such little acts and words.
And that one person is me.
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Jan 05, 2019)
http://gulftoday.ae/portal/55b0f1a6-82b0-484d-85bf-86d8f2b29a84.aspx
#TheQuintessentialWord #FlautistofBrindaranyam #NotAshamed
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyam
www.facebook.com
The pondering took me to an incident from my childhood. I was in Grade 3 and we were having running race practices for the approaching sports day. I used to be a very good runner back then and was running confidently. But a freak slip over an errant stone in the track changed everything.
I hopped away from the field not only with a fairly large bruise on my knee but also with my name struck out as being unfit for the races. My pleading with my physical education teacher that I would be alright soon fell on unresponsive ears. She couldn’t trust me to win the race for her. I haven’t been able to run after that. Ever.
As the years progressed, I discovered that one of the unwritten rules of society was one didn’t fall. Or, if you fell, you had to get up ASAP, that too, all by yourself. If you didn’t then you were looked down upon. Also, no one was going to empathise with you and tell you that it was OK to have fallen down. Worse, it was sacrilege to accept that you had fallen and ask for help.
The reason for this prejudiced attitude is because people don’t trust themselves. To offer help. So, we are either rushing in to help where none is needed (and which eventually backfires) or we give excuses where help is genuinely required, thereby setting off a vicious cycle of mistrust all around.
All it takes is one little act of trust, one little word of compassion, one person with courage to set off a series of such little acts and words.
And that one person is me.
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt Jan 05, 2019)
http://gulftoday.ae/portal/55b0f1a6-82b0-484d-85bf-86d8f2b29a84.aspx
#TheQuintessentialWord #FlautistofBrindaranyam #NotAshamed
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyam
www.facebook.com
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