The human soul is complex. Human
beings, even with their immense capacity for understanding had failed to really
quantify and identify what a human soul is. Does it manifest itself in the
shallowness of our habits and prejudices? Or is it as deep as our character?
However, one thing is for
certain, the human soul is as beautiful as it is intangible.
People
always say I was blessed. It is as if some divine hand is always working for my
behalf to save me whenever I get trouble. For the most part, I believed them. I
believed them not because I agree that God delays the teacher whenever I am
late. I believed them because a divine will had given me an opportunity to
appreciate the strength and beauty of the human spirit in the most unlikely of
places.
The
strength of the human spirit I learned from a 1 year old boy who was fighting
for his life. I can see it in his rapid breathing and his dull eyes, the weeping
of his parents, I was sure he wouldn’t last a fortnight. I wanted to stop then,
because I fear that my care would make no difference, that no matter what I do,
he is doomed to his inevitable end. I went home tired and exhausted that day,
disturbed by the fact that that child will leave this earth not remembering how
his last hours went by because nobody made it significant. I was sure that all
of my efforts were in vain; he wouldn’t live long enough to appreciate it. Two
days went by and I heard a miracle, the boy I took care of survived, and maybe,
just maybe, what I did mattered, that I gave him some strength to fight for his
life and that no matter what happens, I shouldn’t give up, because he never
did.
Optimism
I heard from a man with a terminal illness who managed to make a group of
exhausted and anxious nursing students laugh because he thought we are “too
serious and uptight.” I was beyond touched, here was a man who was uncertain if
he would live long enough to even see the passing of a month or a week, making
an effort to make somebody laugh, not wallowing in self pity and depression
when had every right to do so.
True happiness I learned during
a revelation. We were once asked by a lecturer to rate our happiness with the
career we chose with a 1-10 scale, 1 being the lowest, and 10 the highest. That
made me do a double take, because I realized that I never gave myself the
opportunity to ask the question of how happy I am with the career I chose.
However, after a minute of introspection, I raised my hand for a 10. I was the
only one who did, and when asked why, I was so surprised because all I could
think about was, “because a patient had said thank you.”
I
knew I was blessed. We all are. Everyday, we are given the unique opportunity
to see the beauty of the human spirit. All it takes is a heart full of
appreciation, free of prejudices. Amidst the daily problems and crisis that we
face, amidst the insensitivity and apathy we experience from other people, let
us be reminded that the human spirit is beautiful; there is goodness that exists
in every individual.
The
human spirit may be complex and intangible, but it will never cease to be
beautiful.
