The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
When my mother was rushed to the emergency room, three strangers appeared – unguarded and fully awake – impacting the way each moment unfolded.
Photo of Italy by Carlos Santiago on Unsplash
The first was a young cardiologist. As he spoke to my mother, prying details about her chest pain, I looked at his youthful face. Sincere and somewhat shy, he put my mother at ease. He studied a graph depicting the movement of my mother’s heart. Looking up, he adjusted his glasses and announced my mother would be transferred to the cardiology unit for an immediate procedure. Before leaving the tiny room now overrun with emergency staff, the cardiologist placed his hand on my shoulder and smiled for the first time since we met. “We will speak again after the procedure,” he reassured.
The second was a young nurse. Taking my mother’s aching arm, he drew blood and spoke to her about his love for her homeland: Italy. In between drawing blood and dispensing morphine for the pain, he managed to make her laugh. As my mother was transferred to cardiology, he made sure I was not lost among the throng of staff pushing her bed through long, windy hallways.
He could meet another person’s pain head on.
The third was the senior cardiologist charged with performing the procedure. Dressed in scrubs, the cardiologist, older than the first, took my hand and introduced himself. While his staff transferred my mother to the operating room table, he spoke unhurriedly, offering his full attention. With the patience of a Buddhist monk, he explained the procedure, reassuring me he had performed it many times. Before disappearing into a sea of nursing staff, he placed his hand on my arm and smiled. The perfume of his aftershave lingered on my jacket hours later, as he held my mother’s heart in his hands.
Despite the chaos of his department, the nurse stayed by my side before escorting me to a patient waiting room. As we veered through deserted corridors, he explained how his father had recently experienced a heart attack. His eyes met mine without fear. He could meet another person’s pain head on. We finally arrived at the waiting room where we parted ways; his absence lingered in the air long after the echoes of his footsteps vanished into the silence.
I sat in the waiting room, alone for the first time since arriving at the hospital five hours earlier. My heart heavy with worry, fell into the depths of sacred silence.
Several hours later, my mother emerged, groggy but awake, her heart beating to a new rhythm of life. After she fell asleep, I stepped into the cold night, grateful to have encountered such generous strangers.
How wonderful to read how these medical professionals truly took care of your mother and you, showing genuine compassion and empathy, in such a time of need.
This is the type of story that we all should read everyday. We meet people where they are in this world; they have a loved one in pain and possibly close to death, we have others who have lost jobs, are in legal trouble, have children that need assistance or have just fallen in love. We don’t know, but we can be present to that person. We can let them ahead in traffic, we can smile and say good morning as we pass on the street. We can pass a few dollars into the cup of those in need or open the door to the other that is entering the same building. We can do small acts of kindness that allows the other to know that in some very small way you are sharing their concern, their trouble is your trouble. We are all one, and we reach the other through patient acts of kindness. Our small acts combined with the countless other small acts converge and allow us all to become what we were meant to be.
Thank you for this beautiful story. It made my heart swell and brought tears to my eyes.
Just lately I have become aware of how many people are uncomfortable with other people’s pain. I have noticed a lot of advice giving and testimonials about how they had that pain and how they got out of it. There is a busy energy that arises that feels like it is pushing the others’ pain away.
I love the sentence “He could meet another person’s pain head on.”. It is was I hope for all of us to be able to do for everyone in our lives. It takes presence and being with what is, in the moment without fear.
Western Medicine can be a life saver. Sounds like this medical team had just as much talent as they did kindness.