an ode to daughters, husbands and grandchildren

tonight i feel like writing - i am feeling particularly melancholic today, and somehow particularly not in the mood for talking a lot.

i've got so many things that i want to observe and make comments about, and i always tell myself that i will come home today and make a meaningful contribution to my blog, but i always end up doing something else.

today it's about daughters, husbands and grandchildren. in internal medicine, people come in sick (quite obviously). it's not like obstetrics whereby when you visit, you're sharing a part of the joy.

over here, when you visit, it's to pay sympathy, show support, offer strength/condolences, or worst of all - see a person for the last time.

in most patients that i see, there will usually be a small coterie of people who rotate between themselves the task of seeing the night through with the sickly. they take turns, because they obviously have their lives still to live - perhaps unwilling, or unable to compromise on their lives. all perfectly understandable - no one can fault anyone of them in the least.

for some patients however, there will be ONE person who takes up almost the entire responsibility of taking care of the patient. he or she stays with the patients, mops them up, feeds them, talks to them, sleeps in various uncomfortable positions, deprives themselves of food/rest - they are the ones that we should look out for and honour, because they are the ones who are closest to God.

Kak Faridah is one such daughter, who stayed with her mother in the hospital day and night and day and night for 14 days and14 nights. i stand humbled by her sacrifice, and i pray and hope that God will bless such courage, such humility and such beauty - all encompassed in one person's small heart.