** Teary smile !!!** That day I was at my chamber when one child of around 4 years was brought to me by his parents. The child was suffering from some ocular infections. To be true, it was an easy case to manage medically. I was writing the prescription when the unexpected happened. The child came to me and kissed the back of my hand. I was pleasantly surprised by his behaviour. In fact it was heart warming to witness the expression of love of his little heart. On the contrary, the mother became cautious. She tried to pull the child away asking him not to disturb me, but the child tightly clasped one of my finger. I smiled and said, Dont worry Madam, its not everytime that I get lucky to be liked by my kid patient making my job easier.. :-) :-) The mother smiled at me. I expanded my arms towards the child and he promptly jumped onto my lap and made himself comfortable by hugging me and by placing his head on my shoulder. You know, this is amongst some of the very few incidents which make us feel strangely peaceful at the moment and which we just expect to continue for some more time.. But I had other patients waiting and I had to continue my work. I handed over the child to the mother.. She was smiling, but there was tears in her eyes. What happened Mam ? She replied, Nothing sir.. You are one of those few persons to understand his emotions !!! Her reply somehow penetrated the core of my heart... Oh, I didnt mention one point..The child is mentally retarded.. And the mother is absolutely right in her words. When we come across a cute little child, most of us would like to play/chat with him or her what if even for a moment... This is the human nature.. But most of us have reservations towards a mentally challenged child... This is the truth which we quite often try to deny or ignore. But can a truth be suppressed for long? No.. And the mothers expression was like a proof to what I am saying.. She is a mother, thus she would never feel or complain, but practically speaking, she has already suffered a lot in raising her kid... She will be ready to do anything for her child, but our positive attitude may help her in crossing all the obstacles... In this post I am not going to discuss anything regarding our responsibilities or our duties towards these children or their parents.. It would be too long to cover in a single update. All I want to say is that I lifted the child to soothe my heart, but by my act I could bring some happiness to a mothers heart.. And that smile with her wet eyes... I am going to remember for quite a long time !!!! I have witnessed my mother smiling with tears when I cleared my MBBS entrance examination. These are lots of many more examples. Everyone of you might relate to this I suppose.. Somebody said, what is that smile when there is no tears in the eyes !!! But isnt it true that sometimes these smiles become too heavy to bear ??
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 14:53:49 +0000