I don't know about you, but I love it when my heartstrings get tugged at and my emotional self spills over when I least anticipate it! Flipping through the People Magazine I was caught off guard when I read the story of an American couple adopting Pandu, a blind orphaned child from India, who was five years old and traumatized. The American gentleman himself is also blind and the decision the couple made was to adopt a baby who was sightless too, so that someone who didn't have a head start in life would find love and belief from them. Wow! I was just blown away!
In the recent past too many stories of horror have been reported about the abuse we heap on defenseless children; where beatings , sexual abuse, burning and torture are the common story line. Child labour occurs openly in our country and the systems we have in place to check or tackle such crimes are riddled with loopholes and an apathy to chart genuine reforms, thereby allowing such situations to continue to flourish.
Unfortunately adoption in India is still viewed with apprehension and in most cases embraced only when clinical reasons disallow natural procreation for a couple. There are very few instances where families choose adoption as a method of having a family. We can criticize the western world for many issues, but on the issue of adoption that is a society that has really got it right!
When looking at the pictures of Pandu with his new parents it was so clear to see the great release that their love has brought about to the emotional core of this beautiful child. Otherwise undoubtedly (as stated even by the parents in their interview), Pandu would have been just another statistic, who would have become a beggar at the side of some road in India. You and I would have passed him by and chosen to look the other way.
For a story to have a happy ending and for our heartstrings to be tugged by the emotional wonder of delight, we each need to script something special. So let's not put it off any longer because the world needs a decisive contribution from each of us, to make it a better place.
*Photograph of Aditi who is our adopted grand daughter.
Rekha,
ReplyDeletetouching piece.
i remember this incident from Gandhiji's life as shown in Sir Richard Attenborough's bio-pic 'Gandhi'.
In Naokhali, Gandhiji fasts for Hindu-Musling Unity. He will fast to death till both the factions put down arms.
A violent Hindu, portrayed by Om Puri, comes to Gandhiji and throws a piece of bread at him and says, 'eat it.'
Gandhiji asks why he kill people? He says he has killed a child because the muslims killed his son.
Gandhiji says: "Killing another child will not bring your son back. Adopt a child from those thousands of orphaned kids, whose parents are killed in these riots. And bring him up well. If he is a muslim, bring him up as the best muslim."
I dont know you agree with this emotion or not. But I think there is a solution for all our problems in Gandhian philosophy, provided if we interpret them for our changed contexts.
:-)
johnyml