FireFlies…not to do something... to do everything... and a HouseFly to Boot...

Avowal: These are my own inferences drawn from what I get to read on Medium and have nothing to do with the writers I have quoted here-in-below. These things occur in the environment fairly regularly. Only sharing so that these might benefit someone. No one should take my views amiss!

Prelude

There indeed is so much of learning in this ‘World of Medium’ which seems to be going abegging. This free of cost learning... well almost!

Only three articles out of many I read this past week, to illustrate the complexities our fragile heart/minds handle...

The Fireflies and Stitching a Splintered Life

1. ‘The Valley of the Fireflies: Part One’

A Beautiful verse by sita where she tries to stitch something out of a life falling apart, splintered like a sheet of ‘toughened glass’ fallen from high above. With fireflies for company. I thought it could be the extremes of agony a fragile heart was handling. Even if it be a fictional work.

There may be scores of others who might feel similarly. Able and… capable. And my experienced eyes tell me that all of them must gather their energies and create a niche for themselves. Without intruding into anyone’s personal life, I would just say... please make best use of each moment you have. This case only to exemplify...

Success awaits such fine quality brains. One has seen them...

About ‘Not To Do/To Do Everything’

2. ‘This Hit My Heart Before My Brain Even Had Time to Process It’

By WordsInWilderness... brings out something which seems right and wrong at the same time. To me at least. Both views have their own merits...

The Article mentions...

‘A man goes through life thinking — I hope my son never has to do the work I did. Whereas a woman goes through life thinking — I hope my daughter gets to do everything I never could.’

The man’s pain lies in what he had to do.

The woman’s pain lies in what she never got to do.

The man wants to spare his child (son), from the burden.

The woman wants to give her child (daughter), the freedom.

Think I am an antethesis of this presumption. For, I have always wanted my kids to try their hands at everything that I could not. From engaging in sports such as Tug of War to Basketball to Football to playing ‘Drums’ to leaving very good jobs to follow what they thought they wanted to do and struggle...

Good luck to both these thought processes!

A Fly in the House

3. ‘I Used to Ignore Flies on My Food — Until I Learned This’

By Dt. Rozba Qamar... has vividly brought out the dangers in having these unwanted undesirable guests in our surroundings, especially anywhere close to our eatables... Anywhere!

I would say…just stop everything …and ensure there is ‘NO Fly’ around when you are having a meal. Or we may be inviting...real big trouble.

Picture Courtesy: Unsplash. Please do not look at this picture for long. It might give you nausea..

My Experience

We are not new to the houseflies. Nor are those tiny creatures to us.

But a case came to my mind when I read this article.

June 2004. My first visit to Tajikistan. First breakfast in the best possible hotel in Dushanbe, the Capital City of that East Russian (earlier Soviet) country. I was on an official visit there...

All neatly laid out in the largish Dining Hall.

Enter the ‘Fly’. Making almost all the food items on display, her Steed for brief moments. Now, I could not have had my meal with her having intruded into the goings on inside that Dining Hall.

I know none of the Tajik language. The Waitress knew far lesser of English. It took me good five minutes to explain to her what I wanted. My inability with the Sign Language!

Unarmed with a ‘fly-swatter’ or even a folded newspaper, it took them another five minutes or so to get the danger out of there.

Longest five minutes... I ever experienced...

Lessons

1. Our hearts & brains are fragile machines. Let us burden them only as much as can be taken by them.

2. Let our children (boys as also girls) have ‘roots of responsibility and wings of freedom’ and let us parents leave rest to them. And The Gods. Yes! do keep an oblique eye...

3. Houseflies or any such danger, howsoever insigificant these might appear, must be kept away. We must ensure that the food items we ingest... are clean and hygienic. For, ailments make inroads into our bodily systems, the moment we lower our guard.

QED!