Ishanya, as we all know, is a place for individuals with “special needs”. Actually, it’s not just that. Personally, it has been a “special family” and a “special journey” where I have had several “special learnings”.
As an individual and as a society we have lot of things we can learn from our children here. I am just listing a few of them here and believe me when I say, the list is endless.
Treating everyone the same way: Our children here do not discriminate among themselves or others based on creed, colour, gender, etc. The day they are happy, they are nice to everyone. The day they are not happy, they show that in the same way to all of us. No one gets a VIP treatment here. How cool would a society be if it works this way?!
Totally non-judgmental: You may be having a bad hair day, may not be in your best attire, may be single at 29 years, none of these matter to our children. They will never judge you and will accept the way you are. Isn’t it this kind of love, we all crave for?!
Holding no grudges: There are days when you may need to be firm with these children, say ‘No’ to somethings or may have to give them a “time-out”. But then, none of these are held against you. The next day, they are the same friendly, smiling children and sometimes it’s even the next moment. Wouldn’t life be easy if all of us could follow this non-egoistic principle?!
Never give-up attitude: We call ourselves “normal” and “perfect” people, but how easily we give up when there is a small hiccup right? It’s definitely not easy for our children who have lots of challenges and difficulties. But I see them doing things repeatedly, putting ten times more effort and getting where they have to. Could this be followed by all of us as the “success-mantra”?!
Being happy in your own world: How much we all keep cribbing about life and let go of so many wonderful moments. And here we have our children always smiling, feeling happy about every small thing, sharing their laughter with others and never complaining. Most of them enjoy their own company and being in their own world. If we all can imbibe this, how content and joyous we could be in our life right?!
As I said earlier, these are just a couple of my observations. Everyday I get to learn with so many “Aha” moments, enlightening experiences and definitely a very satisfactory feeling, when I am at Ishanya amidst these beautiful individuals.
– Lakshmi
