Lull before the storm…

Lull before the storm…

One evening, a close friend called me to inform that her husband had died of heart attack. Too shocked, I didn’t know how to react. A couple of days ago I was talking to the couple and everything seemed fine. A healthy man in early 30s, how can he die? I rushed to her place. She was inconsolable. While it took her almost a month to come to terms, she was getting worried about her and her little son’s future. It was so unforeseen that she was too unprepared to handle the situation. What made me think was a sentence she kept repeating: ‘All was well till he had a heart attack….’.

Is everything really well till a bolt from the blue strikes? Do catastrophes come unheralded? Do certain difficulties give us signals before they actually arrive? Here the man had died of heart attack. When I asked her about his lifestyle, I understood that the trouble was somewhat invited. When the reality finally sunk in, she too agreed that there had been indications. Excessive stress at workplace, erratic eating habits, overeating junk food, lack of exercise, obsession to mobile and laptop…the list appeared endless. What was disturbing to know that the man had ignored warnings and ultimately paid a heavy price with his life! I never voiced my opinions till she herself expressed her anguish. She once said he was being reckless in ignoring his health.

His attitude towards health and what happened to his family is not the point here. All we can say is difficulties do give signals before they strike. It’s up to us to mind those indications and make amends. A heart attack doesn’t come in a moment but it arrives over a time. In a way, we may be preparing ground for it. When we say all is well till the difficulty strikes, it’s not well indeed. An untroubled life may be just a mirage. In fact, pushing indications under the wraps and living in a fool’s paradise can extend an open invitation to a hassle. 

There is hardly any point talking about the trouble after it comes. More important is to face the situation bravely. Going back to my friend, what’s crucial for her is how she faces the situation and plans her life. Above all, when she is suffering for no fault of hers. She is a fitness freak, by the way.

At times, we may have to suffer for no fault. It’s like being a good player in a bad cricket team. The individual may score well or grab wickets but that performance has little value when the team loses. There’s not much s/he can do about non-performance of others.

Life is a team game. Such a situation may confront us as well. Despite playing well, we may lose because someone else threw his wicket away. Still we can stand tall, as we have done our bit.

We cannot control others but on our part, we can make sure that we don’t burn too many bridges. As far as possible, we can avoid irreversible mistakes. 

Let us not hoist our sails when wind is unfair. Even when we reach a harbour, we can’t leave our ship afloat. We need to anchor it. Some time or the other, we can find the wind favourable for a smooth sail. Wind and waves, we can never control but let’s not have that feeling of not giving our 100 per cent. After all, winds and waves are always in favour of ablest navigators…

-KanChan