It's insensitive
to flaunt your wealth
in front of the poor...

We don't eat
facing the ones
being starved...

It doesn't help
to brag about your success
with the ones still struggling


So my dear
How could you
talk about love -  and not bat an eye?

We old-timers fondly teach
That Medicine is not at all terse,
Alas, today's students reach
For technology and computers !

Clinical skills are of the mind
And can be learned with an intellect
But Empathy is of the heart
Gifted by role models, not texts !

To be able to almost feel another's
Suffering as one's own
Is not easy
To inculcate ; yet many studies have
Shown that the ability to be kind
Can indeed happen ere it's too late !

I recall many years ago...
An acquaintance who through misfortune and misadventure had severed three toes from his left foot. Although he eventually recovered and adjusted to this misfortune he always walked thereafter with a pronounced limp.

Several years after this incident he had the further bad luck to be involved in a cycling accident and this time he lost four toes from his right foot. Once again with the aide of professional help and prosthetics he was able to adjust.

Although he made physical adjustment he could never let go or refrain from telling of these two incidents on every possible occasion. In my mind it became his key to acceptance and seemed to be his way of gaining some sympathy for his hard done by life. I became aware and felt quite ashamed of my lack of empathy and was alarmed at just how irritated I could become whenever around him. I determined that I should seek help of my own... to discover why I felt irritated so irrationally.

I consulted with my GP and explained the circumstance in detail. I related how over the years the more I witnessed his actions and attitude the less restrained I could be in his presence. I would become both agitated and borderline aggressive when he would enter the room.

My GP listened and after brief pause to ponder upon the story I related to him he reassured me that my reactions were quite normal and were not as uncommon as I thought them to be.
I asked him if it were a defined medical condition and did I have need for concern.
He replied.... "you are quite simply lack toes intolerant"

A hundred fireflies trapped in a glass jar...

Beautifully vulnerable...

Begging some uncommon empathy from the watching world...

Soft light faded with perpetual sadness of being exiled...

In their minds they imagined a kindred spirit releasing them...

Dissolving into the earthly air they would have made sunsets look even more beautiful...

Yet they lay... Hindered... longing liberty... and a toy of some wild spirit in search of fun...

That banished their liveliness at the stake of one's happiness!

I know ..
The thoughts you have of the future
I know ..
The lack of clarity and sense of frustration
I know..

That God had some part in this
I know..
That man had made this
I know..

We will come through this
I know..
We will prevail
I know.

These youths, they keep me young
I sit and watch them play
They dance before an older soul
In a lovely kind of way

They speak no words to hear
And yet—
Their volume is prodigious
Their eyes see beyond the realms
With deeper intuitions

A doctor's day is filled
With emotional tides
Cloaks of anxiety can build
Depression on the sides !

We have to deal with these
With detached involvement,
And try hard to please
Those in throes of torment !

How do you manage
You might well wonder,
I use a Canoe called empathy
With humour  as the oars !