What will be your verse?

What will be your verse is a famous line from the movie ” Dead Poets society”.

The other day I messaged my colleague to check how he was. He responded back with this message

I am in the hospital , I am on Oxygen in the hospital

I was startled and I didn’t know what to type. The next instant I called his colleague who is recovering from Covid and spoke to her. She said, ” He is doing better than yesterday”. Then I messaged him, wishing him a speedy recovery. But this made me think as I spoke to a lot of my customers, colleagues and was faced with situations like the above where I didn’t know what to type and what to speak.

I was sitting at the dining table reading an article in the Times of India. The sun rays coming in from the kitchen balcony were bringing some cheer to my face. The article I was reading was ” Beacons of Hope”. It spoke about how in the midst of crushing despair and grief, there are also stories of selflessness, kindness, and courage that restore one’s faith in humanity and inspire us to dream of a better tomorrow. I was interrupted when my wife asked me, ” Do you know the meaning of the word ennui”. I vaguely had seen this word in some text. She said that it meant listlessness. I googled and found that it was pronounced “On Wi” and meant a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction. That is precisely what a lot of people including me and my wife go through because of what is happening around us. I went back to the article and noticed that there are home chefs who are serving crematorium workers and what keeps them going is a sense of purpose. A worker asked for their food portions to be cut down as they didn’t want their food to be wasted which was incredibly compassionate and considerate. There were stories of Swiggy representatives who are enthusiastic and go the extra mile when they are told it is for ambulance drivers.

I read the paper every day and I deliberately practice getting my mind out of the depressing news. For that, I had to prime myself with my morning routines. During the day we also do our modest bit to see how we can support. The other day I asked my wife who was preparing meals for security guards, ” What do you love so much about cooking “? She corrected me and said she doesn’t love cooking but the very act of serving them made her feel good about doing the work. One of my friends was looking for an ICU bed. I called one of my close colleagues who are active in different task force groups. He shared all information and got me into a call with another person by the name of Sanjay whom I didn’t know. But his words were soothing as he told my other friend’s family about the work they are doing and how they will do their best to get the bed. Luckily next day I called my friend and heard that the patient got the bed and was feeling happy. The question is not so much about who is helping whom, the answer is every now and then someone is helping someone.

Both the idea of “memento mori” and that “none of these things last” are brought to bear in these times. But I would like to focus on the beacons of hope. Let us light a spark and help dispel the dark.

When you are in a state of Ennui, what will your verse be? A 48-sec video gave me the “ansverses” for me to ” Give Hope and Give Help”.