Oh My, Water!
The Lesson I Learnt from Water
When the rain comes,
Our hearts flooded by fear,
Lots of questions arise,
Is there a chance that my house may flood?
How can we save ourselves?
The mind never stops.
Yet,
The abundance of water,
Leads to scarcity of water itself,
An unimaginable duality,
Water shows in our life.
Oh My God,
I am not sure,
Is it the right time to call God,
As the calamity couldn't be stopped,
In news,
Only grieves and cries could be heard.
Yet, the only thing I know for sure,
It is not permanent,
Everything shall pass soon,
The only key,
To observe and be patient.
I will never forget this date, December 18th, 2021. The rain was too heavy and it didn’t stop as well. We knew it was an unusual rain. The rainfall that day was equal to the average of a month, which is a one-in-a-century weather event. I was even struggling to drive to a nearby veterinary clinic for my kitten’s vaccination. It was much worse.
That evening, my father showed me some social media pages where some of the nearby areas were badly flooded. Panic and anxiety flooded our minds as we were afraid that our place would be flooded as well. Fortunately, it didn’t happen at our place as we are in the higher region. However, the Malaysian Police Forces and other forces warned us to be vigilant as unexpected situations may occur as the rainfall was too severe. I could hear the noise of helicopters lingering and the alarm sounds of the firefighters when they were crossing my house to go to the affected areas for the rescue.
However, the next day, due to heavy floods, the water treatment plant had to shut down, and we experienced a severe water shortage. Some places experience both water and electricity shortages as well. In my entire life, this was the worst water shortage where we didn’t even have water to cook with and to go to the bathroom. Since the entire area was affected by a water shortage, there is no restaurant available for food delivery. It was really difficult to find food since my mother and I are vegetarians.
Whenever there was rain, everyone in Malaysia got panicked. It could be seen in the news and on social media. But, I learned some lessons.
Don’t take basic necessities for granted
We must value and be grateful for everything we have now because it is impermanent and can be taken away at any time. When I see tears from the worst affected people, some even don’t even have a house to stay in. Instead of lamenting the ones I didn’t have, I’ve learned to be grateful.
The importance of patience
If anything unpredictable happened, we couldn’t stop our minds from panicking at that moment. But, patience is the key. The only mantra that runs in our minds is that this too shall pass. Yes, today the situation is getting back to normal after a mini-tsunami attacked my country.
The importance of empathy and prayers
When I see others struggling, I send them prayers. Prayers give hope and trust. Prayers heal us. Through empathy, we also learn the lesson and we will feel love towards other beings.
I am also grateful for all my beautiful friends who sent prayers to my family and country as these prayers give hope and a smile. Thank you, Sahil Patel, Tze Lin Sam, Shameem Anwar, Donnette Anglin, Gaurav Jain, Neera Handa Dr, Sujona Chatterjee, Suma Narayan, A.H. Mehr, Dr. Preeti Singh, Brown Boi, Arbab Z., Kris Bedenian, Ali, Giulietta Passarelli, Ravyne Hawke, Christina, J Oliver Dempsey, Tunnel Books, author and creator, Francis Edwards and Joseph Lieungh
