Live and Give Life

I read a story sometime ago, about how two old men in an infirmary give company to each other and one of them uses his imagination to enliven their lives. The story goes like this.

"Two old men, who were almost confined to their beds in an infirmary, occupied adjacent stalls. One man had a wall beside his bed, while the other had a huge glass window beside his bed. Both of them struck a friendship and would spend most of their time talking through the curtain that separated them. 

The old man beside the wall, George, would almost all the time talk about how much he missed his family and especially his grandchildren. He would sometimes be profoundly sad and would lapse into long moments of silence. But the one beside the window, William, was ever so cheerful. He would talk about his family and grandchildren with cheery reminiscence and would tell George various anecdotes about his family. But mostly he would describe what was going outside of the window beside his bed.

William would talk about how the tall skyliners glowed bright yellow in the morning sun and a beautiful orange during sunset. He would describe how green the trees were in the adjoining park where families had picnics beneath them. He would also tell George how happy the couples that jogged in the morning looked and how naughty the children behaved when the ice cream man turned up. He would also laugh at the ducks squabbling over pieces of food thrown at them by the passers by in the park.

George would listen to William's description of the park and would imagine everything that he heard by closing his eyes. He could actually feel the warm sunligh pouring in from the window when William said that the nurse pulled the window shutters up.  He could also feel the birds soaring in the big blue sky when George talked about the larks that he spotted through the window.

And so their lives went on for a few weeks. George was content listening to William's description of the outside world, and at times jealous that he might be missing it. But he was still happy to be at least beside William who would always relay everything that he saw through the window.

One day, the nurse came up to find that William had peacefully died in his sleep. She called the orderlies to take his body away and then the cleaning staff sterilized the place. George was sad that his only companion had gone beyond reach but as soon as it seemed appropriate he called the head nurse and made a request to be moved to the bed that was initially William's. That very afternoon, the nurse sedated George and shifted him as requested.

When George woke up, he couldn't find any window. He was angry that the nurse had deceived him and rang for her. When the nurse came in he demanded that he be shifted to the windowside bed. The nurse looked at him in some confusion and told him that all the beds in this ward were windowless since they couldn't risk any infections.

George was astonished. He told her that everyday William would talk to him about what he saw outside the window. The nurse assured him and told him that William might have imagined all that and told George. She also told him that she had received a request from his family to visit him and that the visit was arranged for the next morning.

George couldn't believe that William had imagined all that. He kept thinking about everything William had said and he was still mulling over it when his family arrived to see him the next morning. He was surprised to see that instead of his family, there were a bunch of strangers. They had flowers for him, some freshly baked cake and a packet of ginger cough drops. He asked them who they were and they said they were William's family!

Now, George was even more surprised. William's eldest son told him that it was his father's last wish that they visit George. After a warm morning full of chitchat and laughter, they left and before they did George was given an audio casette by them.

After they left, George played  the casette. It was from William. He told George that he wanted his family to meet the man who kept him company through his last days. He thanked George for being a wonderful listener. He told George that he had asked his son to record a few things for George when he could no longer be there to tell him what was the world outside window was like. This was followed by singing of larks, sounds from the ocean, the pitterpatter of rain and the laughter of children.

George's eyes were wet when he heard what was in the tape. That moment he realised just how much William had given to him. He stopped being sad about things that he missed and instead started imagining the things that would make him happy. He started remembering the days when he was the happiest and would relive those memories. He would frequently listen to the tape that William sent for him and feel the outside world. He realised that William had given him the greatest ever gift in his life - his life itself"

After reading this story, I realised just how much we complain about the things that aren't there in our lives. We complain so much that we forget to count our blessings. We should stop crying over what we don't have and start celebrating what we have. That way, not only can we make our lives wonderful, but also beam some sunshine on those who are less fortunate.

Life gives us so much. We just have to thank for what we are given and go ahead. Not just Live and Let Live. We should Live and Give Life.