Life-Changing

I’ve recently heard of a doctor named Lewis Wall, an ob-gyn at Washington University in St. Louis. He hasn’t always been a doctor though, he started out as an anthropologist in South Africa but at the age of 27 decided to become a doctor. And it is this decision which has greatly changed the life of countless women suffering from a medical condition called obstetric fistula or vaginal fistula.

Wikipedia describes this condition as; a severe medical condition in which a fistula (hole) develops between either the rectum and vagina (see rectovaginal fistula) or between the bladder and vagina (see vesicovaginal fistula) after severe or failed childbirth, when adequate medical care is not available.

This condition renders women incontinent, or unable to control bladder or even bowel movement and their smell turns them into pariahs and cause them to be abandoned even by their own families.

Imagine living in a pool of feces and urine with no one to turn to, and where everybody else turns away.

But this is curable, and Dr. Lewis Wall has dedicated his life in treating this condition. For him, it is just a simple operation that can be done in minutes. Yet for these women, this becomes an astonishing life-transforming event which gives them their life back.

One can only really appreciate grace, and kindness from a helping hand when we are at our most desperate.

And like Dr. Lewis Wall, how many of us would change the course of their lives, or even just their schedule for today to make a better life for others?

AG

Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/opinion/01kristof.html?th&emc=th
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obstetric_fistula

Who Needs Saving

 

'Your Planet Needs You! Unite to Combat Climate Change' (2009 World Environment Day slogan)

SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT!

SAVE THE PLANET!

Care for it or not, the earth will ruthlessly wipe out an entire population in seconds.

Treacherous? No. Nature’s signs are seldom unforeseen, but often - regrettably, just casually ignored.  We all take comfort from our seeming invulnerability.  “Look at the pyramids of Egypt” they say, still standing after all these thousands of years, its presence magnificently imposing.

But the earth is patient.  And it is also relentless.

In our so called calamities, we realize that we and everything we’ve built are all at the mercy of the great forces of this planet.  We are no different from a colony of bacteria on the kitchen sink.  Sooner or later, down the drain we all go tripping.

Long after humans are gone, the earth will continue to exist on its own terms, the way it has done for millennia.

The earth doesn't  even know we’re here.

The earth, the environment doesn’t need saving.

You see, it is us, creatures from the genus Homo, bipedal primates with a misplaced pride who really needs saving.

 

AG

Whizzed By

 

Some plans really don’t get done the way you think it would.  Even if everything you need is already in place, with your willingness to get things going in-gear, one thing or another comes in the way.

But then again, maybe the plan itself wasn’t so… well…, well-planned.

So  you get the feeling that time, and life, your life just whizzed you by.  Leaving you by the roadside all dusty and wondering; ‘What the?!…’.

But is all life supposed to be all that planned?  Isn’t life’s surprises more awe-inspiring than all those wonderful things we ever envision happening for ourselves?

Of course…, not all surprises are welcome. Most are things you won’t ever want even for your worst enemy.

But if you do take stock, you’d see and learn to recognize that many of those little everyday things that we often take for granted, are actually gift-wrapped packages that are unobtrusively sent your way.

A baby’s smile, your love’s hug, a kiss,  your child’s belly laugh. All fleeting. Yet realize and savor these and you’d invariably feel grateful, undeserving, but all in all; just blessed.

It’s like learning to watch the night sky, only when we purposely look up and watch out for it do we see a shooting star whiz by.