Little Feet

LITTLE FEET

Little feet, happy feet,
Pattering here and there,
Here they come, there they go,
Never lingering long anywhere.

Have you ever stopped to wonder and appreciate the beauty and blessing of children? The omniscience and love of God present in our midst reveal the assurance that despite the cancerous malignancy of the human kind involved in all kinds of violence, terror, hate, 9/11, 26/11, naxalites and a host of other like scourges makes man stop and think about what life means!! How seemingly innocent children grow up to become scourges of horror and tools of terror and destruction. What happens from the time between the womb and the tomb? Where did the things go wrong? Why does it have to be this way? What makes some men Einstein’s and others Frankenstein’s? Are we responsible in part or whole for this metamorphosis, this change from where a nondescript green worm becomes the beautiful butterfly. Winging color and hope and joy into an otherwise dull and drab existence. One can only think about whether like the prisoner in a cell who staring out the window grate can choose to look down upon the dry brown ground of dry earth or lift his gaze to the skies above. The first brings nothingness and depression reminding one of the final resting places - dust to dust and ashes to ashes or the freedom of the skies where at night the backdrop darkens to velvet, dotted and interspersed with diamonds, the twinkling stars. It is a reminder of the nothingness of our tiny selves, grains of sand upon the seashore of life. During the day bright blue skies, with stray wisps of cottony clouds, offer a change from the night. A tiny garret or window into space, that small opening remains what it is, it is the way the person staring out sees on one hand the positive with its myriad promises and follows up on them or chooses the negative leading to nothingness and obscurity. It is up to us to choose either life or death.

So when we see a child born into our homes or the homes of others, it is a gentle revelation that God has not given up on human beings. He/she still comes to earth in the form of a child to brighten up our otherwise dull days and boring routine of daily chores. Rays of sunshine to brighten up our homes and hearts. How that Over soul_ God incarnate is received depends upon us as responsible or irresponsible parents. The other day the Hitvada had an article featured where a baby boy was found abandoned in the Gulf Air Aircraft dustbin, alive and breathing. What gross callousness on the part of the mother!! If she was stupid or careless or incautious and unmarried and so abandoned the child then it is her sin and she would be punished by not being able to conceive when she is married and able to, for God is looking and seeing and he will take his time to judge and the judgment will be harsh. Another cause which came to my knowledge, was a young couple supposedly in love with each other got married in the Arya Samaj and then appealed to me and my husband to shield them from the wrath of the boy’s father, since the boy had married much below his station in life. The parents threatened then coaxed the boy to abandon the girl, to no avail. However after six months when the girl became pregnant they increased their efforts to shake off the girl and her child. When she was not cooperative the boy and his parent’s forcefully y took her away on the pretext of visiting the family on his side with a view of patching up the family’s attitude towards her for the better. Once she was away from our protective cover, thy arranged for a forceful abortion of the five month old foetus, a boy, a son and a grandson.

When she acquainted the colony of the forceful abortion and took assistance of us and the local police, she was able to pin a case on the boy for dowry harassment and subsequently he has been forced to live with the girl peacefully. Unfortunately the girl is an eighth class drop out and he a B.E. so he has the upper hand both mentally and physically. The situation is a stalemate, he is forced to live with her but he doesn't want to live with her. Luckily she fell pregnant again and this time has been able to stabilize the home front. How the situation will finally turn out only God can say but in all good neighborly concern we tried to make the couple understand their responsibilities . One can only guide, counsel and assist when the party being assisted co-operates. The reason for making this a case in point is that it is easy to reach out to our nearest neighbors or those who come into contact with us. Why wait to change the world on a big platform when we can reach out to those in our immediate surrounds?

Women are entrusted with a great and wonderful gift of working along with God as a pro-creator in giving birth. To abuse and misuse this trust is the work of destruction. So ultimately the cultural restraints that govern marriages must be adhered to if one wants to successfully have a good family in which to nurture children. Sex has become a casual mechanical curse of the twenty-first century, what the T.V., Computer, Mobile Fast Bikes and Cars being made available to our youth. It becomes the greater responsibility of Parents who must provide all these facilities with caution and proper guidance and supervision at all times to prevent the intrusion of these invasive forces of Kalyug- Era of destruction into our homes and children.

One gets to view American Movies with Aliens invading our world in various forms. Terminator, Predator etc. with Arnold Schwarzenegger successfully crushing and systematically destroying the aliens. Are we vigilant and properly equipped to fight the invasion of evil, gradually corroding our culture, values and family ties? Are we mere spectators who are finally wiped out or would we like Arnold fight the good fight and emerge victorious at the end? That is give birth to and nurture and care for our Little Feet until they become full complete competent adults ready to face whatever challenges come their way . Be it from the competitive world around, the evil with its myriad manifestations or just life itself.

So let us parents be the guiding light, the protective cover, the advance guard. The promoters of peace, justice and brotherhood. May we be Teaching, Loving Giving, Caring Gardeners- Baagbans to our Tender Feet – Our Little Feet, so that once big and strong and much sought after like the Teak Tree, may then be an integral part of society. We will be the proud caretakers, basking in the shade of our success. I would like to conclude with a quote from T. S. Eliot, “It is in fact a part of the function of education to help us to escape not from our own time for we are bound by that, but from the intellectual and emotional limitations of our time”.

Dr. Judith Singh