Water-bearer

Amazingness is relative to the situation and in this day of instant everything, it is sometimes difficult to maintain a perspective on what is really important but four years ago, while visiting my husband in the hospital, I met a lady who altered my view of life.

While at the hospital, we often escaped my husband’s tiny space and sat on one of the benches provided for hall-walkers. Mostly we discussed the state of the health care system, the dinginess of the hospital and the friendly and efficient but overworked staff.

One day, we heard a woman humming as she approached our bench. Dressed in hospital scrubs, she was pushing a cart loaded with bottled water which she was distributing to patients. Friendly and enthusiastic, she radiated joy.  “How are you today? Are you thirsty? Would you like a bottle of water?”

We’re fine, no thanks, we said, but she stopped to talk. “Do you know,” she said, in her sing-song accent, “that I have the very most important job in the hospital? I am the water-bearer. In my country there is no life without water and the person who brings the water is the most important person in the village. Where I come from, we spend our lifetime searching for it. I must go now and take the water to these people.” In a sweeping movement, her arm indicated the rooms in the hallway in front of her and, continuing to hum, off she went.

The whole conversation took about one minute but it had a huge impact on me. While I spent my time thinking about what I didn’t like or didn’t have, she was content with her life and what she could give back. Her service to others fed her spirit and the pleasure it gave her shone through her eyes and landed on all who met her. I envied her selflessness and the peace she conveyed.

While I was complaining, this lady was doing the most important job in the world and was happily at peace with her ability to perform a service for others – a lesson in how to bloom where you are planted and in the reward of giving to others.

                               from airdrielife magazine (Spring 2015 issue)