Wisdom from Age

On April 17th, Amma's Ayudh USA visited LightHouse Nursing Home in Castro valley. Amma's volunteers individually visited all the rooms offering a rose and simple conversation. The gift we got in return were truths that can only be sincerely understood through the span of one's life. The most astounding parallel was that almost all of them who were able to sustain conversation stressed (unprompted) that the foundation of an honorable life is the act of giving selflessly. Through their tears and occasionally our own we felt when we left that we had received a lot more than we had ever hoped to give.

Ocie Benson, an 86 year old American lady, was celebrating her birthday facing a cold white wall. Although she looked tired from receiving fluids she had a formidable presence which contributed to our initial hesitation to approach her. She did not hesitate to share her insights into various topics ranging from marital relationships to understanding death. She had witnessed one of her sons being murdered and the other die slowly due to injuries sustained from a street side thug. Her husband and all her siblings had died of old age. The thing that truly struck us at first about Ocie was that although she was deprived of the family and companionship we take f

or granted, she had a certain sincerity in her optimism that truly reflected on the resilience of the human spirit. This was in stark comparison to the many who wandered those halls that had to a great extent reconciled themselves to their fate. Ocie was older than most and faced imminent death due to chronic heart disease. As a result she treats our each meeting as if it were our last and strains to kiss us goodbye. After around three hours of conversation we soon discovered that every word she spoke to us caused immense pain to her throat. She had been confronted with the option to underg

o surgery to quell the pain, but in return she would lose the power to speak. Even now she had to work for every word, but that did not stop her from sharing as much as she could, and we could tell that she really did. Perhaps what we really drew from her was inspiration to never look at things from one angle, to broaden our perspective on meaning, and truly introspect on the reason for our existence.

Ocie was an out of the ordinary example, and such people are hard to find. Still there are countless veins of knowledge that can be tapped to provide one with a conversation that can induce a lasting change. For true sincerity has a power than cannot be matched. Our Amma is a shining example of this, and her effort should urge us all try to help those who can truly benefit from the comfort of a few words. When we left Ocie, she told us that her family now had three new young members (thats us!). Amma says that in essence we are all beads strung on the same string, a family in its truest sense, let it be our mission to be the family of all those who are willing to receive us, as faulted we may be.