This message is not about taking precautions about Corona, but about dealing with our fears.
You can laugh it off at me. I have a strange fear; those of you who are single can understand it. If I were to die, I don’t want my family members and friends to come to a dirty house. So, I keep my place clean, clean sink, clean bathroom, and clean-living room, the bed is made, and things are in place, even though no one will be visiting me.
I have written down all my passwords, my insurance papers, and other papers, and have put them all in one single password and given to my kids. I want to make it easy for my family and friends. I hope you do the same.
In the case of mass deaths, don’t worry about burying me. If the county/ city has to bury us all in mass graves or other avenues, let them. I recall the stories from my grandmother how much of my family was wiped in the Spanish flu in 1918, as they bury one and come home, they have to take another one. But then, there were no bans on gatherings.
This reminds me of the communication shut down in Kashmir. I hope you feel empathy towards the Kashmiri People – all Kashmiri people, pundits and Muslims are both victims of brutality. I hope you feel their anguish and I pray empathy restored to Mr. Modi.
I also feel for millions of workers who live on daily wages and those who live in large numbers in small 10×10 huts with no sanitation and food. They are stranded. Thanks to the Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus, Christians and others who have taken it upon themselves to help fellow Indians of all hues. It was a joy to see a Hindu man was given his last rites by Muslims when the man’s relatives did not want to touch the dead, a Sikh man saved over 40 Muslims to safety, and Hindus protecting Muslims during these hard times. That is my India.
People are always good, they care. I hope the governments reflect the will of good kind-hearted people. I also hope the financial aid the Modi government has announced will go to every Indian equally to sustain through this pandemic. No one should be more privileged than the other.
I have donated all my usable body parts to medical research upon my death. If death were to come to me now, I would not resist but go in peace. I have lived my life and happy to go and blessed to live. There is an Indian song, its first two lines are the best description of living a life.
Jiyo to aise jiyo jaise sub tumhara hai
Maro to aise jaise tumhara kuch bhi nahi
Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe0CQpnv5lo
Live your life as if everything belongs to you,
and when you die, go as if nothing belongs to you.
Each one of you must have experienced the sudden death of a loved one, and it was as if the end of the world. But you know, all wounds heal over a period of time. Of course, I have a list of things I want to do but will not sweat if I don’t. I know we have examples set by great men and women like Krishna, Zarathustra, Buddha, Mahavir, Moses, Confucius, Jesus, Muhammad, Nanak, Bahaullah, Joseph Smith, Mirza Ghulam Ahmed, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, MLK, and a whole lot of others. They did not complete their missions to bring the entire world on one platform. God has created the world into many nations, tribes, races, ethnicities and he/she/it like it that way.
Make peace with yourselves – if you are afraid of death, clean your slate, forgive and seek forgiveness, and accept the reality and go in peace. Tie the loose ends, if you were to go, go as if you have finished your business and have nothing else to do. Go in peace my friends, Have a smile on your face, it will make it easy for the survivors. Life goes on, but make it easy for your loved ones.
May all 8 billion of us live without apprehensions and tension. Those who leave us, may them leave in peace, those who survive, may live in peace.
I feel the pain for the entire world, even though I have expressed it in terms of my surroundings.
God bless all of us,
Dr. Ghouse is a community consultant, thinker, author, newsmaker, and an interfaith wedding officiant. He is a speaker on religious freedom, Pluralism in religion, politics, society and the workplace, and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. More at www.TheGhouseDiary.com