The Silver Linings

There is a beautiful English phrase, “look for the silver lining in the clouds”. I am actually witnessing a number of such silver linings, recently.

 

An unfortunate road accident, in Madurai ring road highway, had left my wife’s right arm fractured. The first silver lining was that, the accident did not kill any of us, nor any one in the car in which we collided with. As my wife was whining with pain, at the moment of the accident and I was trying to reach out to my relatives  through my mobile to get her transported to the hospital, one passer-by – a young gentleman cared to stop his car and volunteered to take us to the hospital. We took his help and made a quick exit from the accident spot. Here, was one more silver lining.

 

In just a day after the accident, my wife got operated and had a steel plate fixed in her arm to reconstitute the bone structure. With many relatives and friends visiting us at the hospital, we found a lot of solace. The feeling of being cared for and being important was another silver lining.

 

We mentally got prepared for a month long rest and healing time. There were just two issues which created a lot of unrest to us. One was the Children’s Summer Camp which was had plan to organise the first week of May and the other one was the proposed family cum friends overseas trip to Thailand and Malaysia, which was in Mid May. After some contemplation, we decided to postpone the Summer Camp to the last week of May. The holiday tour we had promised our kids, was the only concern left, unaddressed. With little worry, we told the doctor about our foreign travel plan. We had no clue that the doctor would give us a green signal. He said, that she will be perfectly alright in 10 days and she can travel anywhere, provided she takes a little precaution.  It was now a matter of our own choice. It was a great mental dilemma, whether to go or not to go.  Normally, any one would opt to cancel the trip and stay back. With mixed feelings we took a bold decision, to go ahead with the tour.  The decision turned out to be good. We enjoyed a great holiday abroad and came back recharged with a great feeling of accomplishment.  If we would have stayed back, we would have undergone more mental agony and depression. The tour created a positive mindset. The focus on pleasant experience made the painful experience minor. This again was a silver lining, I should say.

 

It has always been me, telling my wife to do this and that. Now that she was unable to do many things, I not only had to do all my work by myself, but also had to assist her to do her work. However, I felt it was a great opportunity for me to serve her and pay back a little of her care. I realized how much, I have taken her for granted. We never realize the importance of electricity until there is a power cut. Similar, was my situation. This realization, I feel is one more silver lining.

 

I have read these words quite often - every experience has got something to teach us. This experience indeed taught us a lot. It helped us to realize the value of each other and the value of our own life. This I think is the greatest silver lining of all.

 

Every one experiences difficult moments in life. It is the ability to bounce back fast that really matters.  We were able to bounce back fast, not only because of the miracle of modern medicine, but also owing to the love, care, support, motivation and prayers of our family members and our close set of friends and relatives.

 D. Senthil Kannan,

Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com