Exactly a
week ago, I slipped on an icy road, fell on my back and broke the radial bone
on my right elbow. 6-hours later, accompanied by my daughter Ankita, who
endured the long wait for a doctor to see me, I walked out of the ER with my
right arm in a cast and a sling. It is immobilized for about 3-weeks until I go
back for a review. But that is not the point of this blog-post.
Now that I can
move my fingers, which are sticking out of the cast, with minimal pain and am
able to type, I want to record some of my experiences during this past week.
I have
learnt a lot about society in general and acquaintances in particular during
this week.
Learning #1: The conversations which I have with people follow a pattern:
Person X: “Hey,
What happened to your arm?”
Me: “Oh!
I slipped on ice and fell.”
Person X: “How
did this happen?” OR “When and where?”
Me: “I
was coming out of ABC store with a bag of heavy grocery and stepped off the
curb and hidden beneath the fresh snow was solid frozen ice. And Swwooosh…..! I
landed on my back. My entire right arm numb with pain. Luckily my elbow took
the knock and possibly saved my head from hitting the curb behind.”
Person X: “Oh
My God! Yes last Saturday was particularly bad because of the freezing rain the
night before. You just can’t be careful enough!”
Me: “Yeah! I’ve slipped and fallen quite a few
times but every time I’ve managed to get up and walked away. This time the law
of averages clearly caught up with me, eh!” I chuckle.
Roughly at
this point every person I
have met immediately starts narrating a personal story about a time (1, 2 5, 10
or whatever) years ago when (s)he slipped on icy road/ pavement and had a
serious injury.
This I
guess is supposed to cheer me up and aimed at making me feel that it is alright
to slip and fall on ice. It happens to all of us all the time. This is Canada,
what do you expect? And yes it does help. Suddenly this person and I are part
of a common club – call it ‘Slippers Anonymous’. And we are trying to get over
the common feeling of pain that slipping causes!
(Disclosure: This experiment in societal interaction involved upwards of 50 interactions with colleagues, acquaintances and random people on the street.)
Learning #2: Recently there were a quite a few posts on
Facebook which read:
This is a short
experiment to see who reads posts and who just scrolls. So, if you read this,
leave one word on how we met. Only one word, then copy this to your wall so I
can leave a word for you. Please don't add your word and then not bother to
copy. It should be an interesting exercise.
Such posts
have received an average of 5 likes and 3 shares. Is it then that people don’t
read posts? Is FB that over-hyped? Or is
it that people don’t like to be treated like (free) guinea pigs in someone’s
social experiment?
My own recent
experience suggests it could be the latter. My post about my injury elicited
almost instantaneous responses (many while I was still in the ER) and I
continue to get comments wishing me a speedy recovery. My friends care enough
to be concerned about me, take the time to offer me advice and also offer
prayers and best wishes for a quick recovery. What more can one ask for? These
friends are like stars in the universe. We may not always see them, but we can
be damned sure they are there! Thanks everyone for your messages, calls and
good wishes. As I mentioned in one of my responses to all the messages: For the pain and inflammation, there's
acetaminophen + ibuprofen. And for the spirit, I am blessed to have so many
caring friends. Your thoughts, wishes and calls have lifted my spirits
immensely.
And Facebook
is a fantastic social medium. It builds on the ubiquitous nature of the Internet
to bind our own social eco-system together, regardless of time and distance
separating each of us.
Learning #3: We live and are part of a big network, taking
what we need and giving what we can. Case in point: I am not the only one who
feels the effect of the loss of use of my right hand. My family too has been
feeling that loss. My wife, daughter and son have had to step up to the plate
and take over some of the tasks that I was doing at home. Additionally they had
to take care of me and my needs. My
colleagues at work have been very understanding too.
Learning #4: A lot
of colleagues now routinely step up to open doors for me – even though only my
right arm is in a cast & sling and my left hand and two feet are perfectly
capable of doing the needful. I am still trying to figure out what inner
emotional need motivates such behavior? Is it out of a sense of chivalry or
charity? I have always felt that people generally feel charitable towards the visibly
disabled but I am now confused. I must read up some more and address this issue
in a future blog if I can sort this out.
Learning #5: We have to be grateful for small mercies. During
the 6-hour long wait at the ER of one of Edmonton’s best hospitals my daughter
and I were exchanging our grumblings with other patients about the slowness of
the supposedly world class publicly funded and totally free health care system.
But when I finally saw a doctor and later the cast-room assistant, I realized in
conversations with them that they were having a terrible day attending to
people with hip bone, thigh bone, back and head fractures! I was low priority. All
I needed on an urgent basis was an ice-pack to control the swelling and pain which
they repeatedly provided me. And I am grateful for that! The Canadian health care system is in my eyes
still the best in the world. If you are involved in a serious accident and are
in imminent danger of dying you can be sure they will spare no effort or
expense to reach you –whether by road or air-ambulance- to a medical facility. That
is how much a human life is valued!
