I don't know if the incidence which I am going to share has anything to do with this phrase. But I thought, both had an equal effect on me, emotionally.
I die in the battle zone
Box me up and send me home
Take my medals, pin them on my chest
And tell my mother, I TRIED MY BEST.
Here, the person tries to narrate that he lost his life but not without giving his best. He fought till the last minute. It was his commitment which he never broke and dint give up.
On Saturday, I met a similar character. I was amongst the volunteers for the Mandir Suraksha Maha-Sammelan, a massive gathering of Hindus from all over the state of Goa, to condemn the recent attacks on several temples in the state. To top it all, the Government has not been able to take any action to ensure that the guilty are punished and any such occurrences in the future are prevented. People were angry. One could sense that they wanted to make a difference. For once, they wanted to send a message, that Hindus should not be taken for granted. Well, I will write another post to inform you about the sammelan in detail. Here, I want to discuss an Individual, who according to me was the STAR OF THE SHOW.
I was a part of the Emergency Services Committee at the venue. Our role was to take care of any emergencies arising at the venue. Accordingly, we had arranged for 2 ambulances, 1 fire brigade and most importantly, plenty of medicines to provide first-aid. Just as the program was about to begin, we had our first customer. Ha ha. Customer is not the right word. But he was the first one we serviced. He came up to me and ask for a Band-Aid. Just when we were finding one, we realized the guy was bleeding. Later on, we discovered, he had bruises all over his hands and legs. We immediately cleaned up all his wounds with Dettol and applied a cream. The person was not in favour of any bandage being applied but he was forcefully made to agree as we were worried about he getting infection due to the dust all over.
After we were sure that we had done our best, we asked the cause of his bruises. He had met with an accident at St. Cruz, which is several kilometers away from the venue. He was badly hurt with several wounds. However, his commitment for the function was so high that he bought a new shirt on the way and headed straight to the venue. He said, when Hindus are getting attacked, it was his duty to be a part of every move to condemn the same. And before we could ask him anything else, he asked us to excuse him as the program had already started. As he walked away, we were stunned. At that moment, I felt so small. His dedication towards the cause had probably made him numb. Else, nobody else would have been able to ignore the kind of pain he might have been going through.
The incidence has changed me forever. Whatever may be your passion, if you follow it and give your 100%, there is nothing which can stop you from achieving your goal. Hats off to the man. I am only pained as I could not touch his feet. Hope I meet him again, sooner or later. I just wanna thank him for teaching us all a lesson, we will remember for life.
