Long back, I had read an article about a doctor in a reputed feature magazine. I was in college then and do not even remember whether it was in the form of an interview with the doctor. Whatever it may be, the article was all about our attitude towards life and made interesting reading. The doctor used to treat elderly people who were above the age of eighty or ninety. They came to him with problems like fever, loose motion, cough, and cold and were very serious about it. The doctor advised them to take it easy and never worry. He used to tell them, “You have lived a full life. Your age has reached eighty-ninety years. Your children and grandchildren are there to look after you. Then why are you worried so much about your health? These minor health problems will go away on their own.” This was the main content of the article, though I do not remember much about it. Probably the doctor tried to drive home the point that we should all have a positive attitude towards life and never worry about such trivial issues relating to health.
I cannot comment on the idea that small problems like fever, loose motion, cough, and cold can go on their own even without treatment in a couple of days, as I am not an expert in the field. But a doctor cannot lie on a matter related to his profession. He did advise patients to take rest, drink sufficient good water, particularly during loose motion, and take light food for easy digestion as per appetite, and consult a doctor in case the problem persists for a long time. The immune system of our body has the capacity to fight out such small problems for some time. Moreover, he wanted all his patients to have a positive outlook towards life, and such trivial issues should not be taken as seriously as they are taking them to be. He even gave the example of his own mother, who was above ninety years of age. He wanted to drive home another point that death is inevitable and while leading a life, we should not die over and over again out of fear.
I am often reminded of the article on the doctor as I come across people in my day-to-day life having diverse views on health, life, and death. There is one group of people who just take their life very casually. In case of a headache, they just go to a medicine shop and ask for particular medicines which they normally take without any prescriptions. At best, they discuss the minor health problem with the chemist and purchase medicines as advised by him. This way, they continue their lives without ever consulting a doctor.
There is another group of people who do visit a doctor in case of a health problem and purchase medicines as per his advice and prescription. But after returning from the clinic, they become doctors themselves. Even when the doctor has prescribed medicines for ten days, they will stop taking them after a couple of days, thinking they have overcome the ailment. When somebody takes medicines for a few days, it is only natural that he will feel a little better. But it does not mean that the cause of the ailment is totally eradicated from his body. One has to complete the course as advised by the doctor so that he completely recovers from it. They even curtail the dose of medicines by fifty percent at the chemist level by purchasing half of the medicines prescribed by the doctor.
There is yet another group of people who are hardly satisfied with a doctor’s treatment. If the ailment is complicated, the patient has to undergo an initial treatment for at least three to four months. Otherwise, how can medicines start having their effect on the body? These people not only change doctors very often for early recovery, but they also experiment with Ayurveda and Homeopathy along with Allopathy. This change is so frequent that by the time a particular medicine starts having its effect, a dose of another medicine is taken. Recently, an old man was making a complaint as to how the doctor asked him to go in for an endoscopic test for a minor stomach and loose motion problem, though keeping in view his age, the doctor wanted to know whether his major organs are functioning well or not.
Though such examples are aplenty, it is not that there are no thoughtful people who do not think of their health and long life. There are, but it is difficult to sort out the percentage. There are people who take to exercise, balanced diet, and medicines as per requirement for leading a healthy life.
Good health, treatment, and medicines are not the only fields where we find aberrations. In nursing an attitude towards life also, we find people with different mentalities. I come across many people who always think of life negatively. The sun, the moon, the blue sky, green trees, water, and whatever they see around seem to have no meaning for them. They try to give the impression that their life is just wayward and has no direction. We may very well call these people pessimists or just indifferent to life.
There is another group of people who always think of the dark side of life. For them, life is meaningless and the only solution is suicide or putting an end to life. The other day, while waiting for the railway level crossing gate to open, I talked to the car driver as to how people dare to put their heads below the running train to end their lives. The driver raised his hands in salute to God and said that he can never think of doing such a thing. I added to his thinking and made it clear that we do not know anything about our birth. Neither have we asked anybody to bring us to this world. But when we gain consciousness and grow up, we start thinking of death and suicide. It is really surprising that a very young man is committing suicide while a man of eighty or ninety is proceeding for cancer treatment. Death is natural and will come one day. But in what way are we eligible to take our lives through suicide? God or Nature has given us life, and it is the giver who will take it away when the time comes. We should not think of death unnecessarily and worry about it. When I made my stand clear, the driver nodded his head and seemed to have a liking for what I said.
But this is not the end of the story where we try to find meaning in life. There are still balanced people for whom life is meaningful. They believe in leading a neat and clean life, have faith in God, obey the law of the land, and find life and the world around to be attractive. We may call them optimists or people with a positive frame of mind.
Since time immemorial, life has been subject to much debate, discussion, theory, and philosophy. Thinkers and philosophers all over the world have tried to understand life and come out with their views on it. Views, theories, and philosophies apart, we must understand life as a layman in its simplest form. In the first place, life and death are inevitable, and we have no control over them. Where there is creation, there is destruction. Secondly, life as a journey is also uncertain. It is full of joys and sorrows and presents obstacles on our way. Poets and writers have also painted life in their own way. William Shakespeare, the great playwright, has called life a stage and people as mere actors. For ordinary and lesser mortals, life comes and is lived by them through its trials and tribulations. They may even get disheartened in its dark period, which may even lead to negative thinking and depression. But man has lived life and evolved through the ages. He has proved the theory of the survival of the fittest. He has overcome every odd around him and has the capacity to brave the challenges of life. He is physically and mentally strong, brave, and balanced to lead life positively, enjoy it, and spread the message of positivity in life.
(The views expressed are the writer’s own)
Mr. Prafulla Kumar Majhi,
Retired Asst. Director, A. I. R, is an eminent Scholar and freelance writer in English & Odia. His areas of interests are sociocultural, economic, literary, historical and analytical studies and writings.
Email: airprafulla61@gmail.com
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