Does life imitate the movies or is it the bioscope that is
inspired by blood and bones?
I don’t know but I have my list of incredible moments that seem
to happen only in the movies.
And my all-time favourite is the coat scene.
People talk of the horrors of physical deprivation and hurt
but there is an ache of the inside that is way higher, touching a point beyond
the labour pain high of 57 del on the scientific scale of pain. Invisible on
the outside, it rages deep within, rising in the throat and creeping in sour
waves into the pit of the stomach. The chill converges on the lungs. There is the
fearful headiness of a reckless, roller coaster ride. Your vision is blurred by
regret, self-berating and lonesomeness.
Time for the coat!
And as though on cue, it is at these quiet times of
desperation that the Knight Errant appears out of the mist in a soft focus in
the movies, the music dims and the hall goes still. There is a magical
connection. Two pairs of eyes meet and a wave of hope and strength and kindness
is transmitted from one to the other and the broken begins to build back, right
there. That one gesture injects her with glowing steel in the veins, making her
as good as new.
It is my definition of the most beautiful human transaction
ever!
Did you ever have this happen to you? Have you experienced
or witnessed and acknowledged pain in all these years you have treaded this
earth? Cast a cursory look around, particularly in idle mode at the traffic
lights, there are several there, crumbling inside like a wedge of carrot cake
or a ball of ice lolly under that public mask of nonchalance. Some are probably
on fire inside, like their throats have been taken by the guts. Of course they
drive with numb limbs, grey lead in the toes pressing on the accelerator,
hurting, crying, and scarring inside while those with the power to wash it all
away stand outside these high walls of need, unseeing, unhearing, and refusing
to take off their coats!
When faced with pain in fact, the most common reactions
range from outright denial to an outraged defensiveness. Listen, cut the drama
and let’s move on with it, shall we? There are so many tragedies taking place
in the world? So many people do not have the time or the luxury for all this
sighing and feeling. And what are you crying over this, I have seen worse. If
you heard what I have gone through, you would shut up with gratitude!
The coats of empathy either do not exist in real life or are
few and far between. For the most, we do not respect others enough to accept
their pain. We are scared to engage outside of our own comfort zones. Even
though we know that we ought to look at them with gentle eyes and say in a
grave voice that we understand, we bluff them and ourselves by saying it is
just idle nerves; and this on a good day. On the others, we tell ourselves that
their cry for help is a personal attack on us.
Dear God, let me be otherwise. Give me the strength, the kindness, the faith to be
the one holding out the coat.
1 comment:
Post a Comment