Nurses - A voice to lead Nurses' Day 2021

Nurses - A voice to lead - A vision for future health care' Theme for 2021 Nurses' Day
One nurse from Holy Family Hospital Delhi (NDTV 9pm May 11, 2021) said that there is no time even to grieve, express our emotions.
Can we hear them, or their silence will be continued to be taken for granted and exploited? Do we know that they too have a family and a future, and personal ailments?

What the nurses and other health care workers need is not flowery praises like 'angels' and 'warriors,' they need dignified salary and due rest as any other professionals.

The burden upon them, especially in this time of pandemic is unbearable. Their lives and commitment will be valued only when the entire healthcare system is given priority over many profit making choices.

 
It is from the great contribution of these health care workers that "India squandered the early achievements" and brought to the present stage of crisis. Even now the priority does not seem to be in attending to the emergency and making immediate and alternative arrangement. It might bring very pathetic and helpless situation for the nurses in the Third Wave, and their silence will be taken for granted as ever.

 
Courts, media, political parties who were silent when the crowding occurred in different occasions that contributed to this spread, must see and speak for the health care workers now if they value their service in itself and for the sake of their contribution in the third wave which is said to be 'inevitable.'

Love one another

 Just as the presence of God is a living reality, loving one another is also a lived reality. It cannot be simply an affectionate extension. I like someone, I love someone. That is fine.

'Love one another' means I can never be 'not loving' anyone. if I keep someone away from love, I cease to be in the church, I cease to be in the body of Christ. We can reflect on this relating to Jesus' words, 'Abide in my love,' Wine and the branches,' 'when you did this to the least of my brothers you did it to me' ...

In loving one another we come to experience the living presence of Jesus.
As the father has loved me so I love you. therefore love one another.
He was at the bosom of the Father, offered life for us in his living and dying.
It is for this same experience the church has been preparing us so far in this Easter season.

The disciples were afraid, anxious, disappointed. They were praying, and they were telling the story of their genuine emotions. They loved one another, and strengthened one another as Jesus had once told Peter (Lk 22:32). There they experienced the presence of Jesus, offering peace to their hearts.

When we love another, we too experience the same consolation, embrace from God, holding close as a shepherd. We will l be able to come closer to others to see the wounds with life-giving power available in each other. We will know the infinite love available for us, and the truth that Christ is alive. It tells us what we experience deep within ourselves the life of god, longing for the further welling up of the Holy spirit.

In this difficult time it is a sign of love and trust that we share our fears and anxieties to one another, offer nourishment, comfort and encouragement, hold the life of one another as close as possible, do the good things whatever possible for us.

we will see a miracle; the sacrificial love of many who offered us life. Being in Christ's body they say: see these wounds, love, not be non-loving, but loving.

false pride murders many

There are people of good will and those capable of doing what is necessary . But they have no decisive or commanding power, even sometimes financial resources. Last year, many technicians had introduced alternative ways for meeting urgent needs. The same must be applied in present urgent situation.
The issue is largely in the good will and management. In hot summer many have a shelter under a tree in hospital surrounding. It may be needed that the District Collectors and Panchayats must be given more power and funding to meet the emergency so that they can pool multiple resources.

It can be thought that the centralized supply of Oxygen, vaccines ... was for a just distribution of these essential lifesaving things. But what we see is shortage even when the y continuously say that there is no shortage. Why does it not reach where it is needed?

People develop a normal feeling that NoOne Cares, we are left to our destiny. Our lives are not the priority of the government. When local social and health machineries fail and stand helpless, people at large cannot see each other dying a pathetic death. they will begin to act anything they can to save their lives. Of course the ordinary people cannot produce vaccines and oxygen generators. I hope it will be creative and spontaneous. I am afraid whether the dysfunctional system will create obstacle for such momentum.

The system is dysfunctional, just because lack of good will. Are we lacking in resources? Surely the world will help us. Humanity is not dead. Unfortunately false pride murders many.

begin to contemplate on death

If we want ourselves and others free of panicking in a pathetic situation, it cannot be done just by denial of it. We are in the midst of it, and we are faced with unfortunate events occurring almost every moment if we are waiting in a hospital. what prevails is uncertainty, and the fear of death.

If we speak of hope, it is not born just within a positive thinking or avoiding some 'bad' information. I feel that two things are essential in having hope that comforts and consoles our fears and uncertainties. They are gratitude and trust. Gratitude not only reminds us of what we have received, it also tells us how we have been held towards a bond of love, acceptance and nourishment. So it maintains an assurance of nearness of many though they may not be physically near. if we have lived a true bond of love, we also have a feeling of fulfillment and readiness to offer everything. Only our confidence of great human family we will be able to be free of our concern for other members of the family. Trust enables us to give ourselves in the hands of others and of God. Is it really true and practical? whatever may be the answer, it is sure that it is not something that is not impossible.

It is important to be able to be calm and not in distress. What we come to learn in such occasions is that we need each other as a human family and as members of the community of all living and nonliving things. They are with us, and they accept us. They can be trusted.

So it is important that we begin to contemplate on death more creatively as a moment of generous giving and trust. Seeing our loved ones in struggle is painful, but we cannot lose peace, then alone we can grant peace. Seeing the struggle of many we too may find ourselves helpless. This interior preparation is necessary for being ready for the worst. It is a preparation of cultivating and fruition of human goodness. We need each other. Our minds and hearts are to be ready in persona and in society to stand the third wave of Covid. We need to 'reinvent the human' within ourselves. It is a deep process, but urgent.

When we are still alive we will have been a new humanity with bonds of love, capable of trusting, nourishing one another.