Suffer like a man

From Pinterest

In the classical novel The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago – the old man who has endured much pain already – says, “Keep your head clear and know how to suffer like a man.” Suffering is an inevitable part of human existence. One of the many lessons that the Coronavirus disease is teaching us now is the inevitability of suffering.

“This world of dew is a world of dew,

And yet, and yet…”

18^th century haiku master, Kobayashi Issa, sang that. He had ample reasons to sing sad melodies. His mother died when he was just two. Later his first son died and before he could overcome that grief his father died of typhoid fever. And then his second son died followed by the death of his beloved daughter.

Then he sang about the dewy evanescence of human life and its delights. Life wasn’t kind to him in spite of his songs. Another of his sons died after he wrote that poem on the world of dew. Then he was partly paralysed. Then his wife died in childbirth and that child died soon too.

In due course of time, Kobayashi married again. But it was a failure; the marriage ended in divorce after a few weeks. Following his third marriage, his house got burned down. As a consolation he was going to get another child at the age of 64, but even that consolation was stolen from him. He died before he could see his much longed-for daughter was born.

Kobayashi’s was a world of dew drops that melted away under the cruel light of the rising sun. But the sun will keep rising and setting. Dew drops will keep vanishing without a trace. And yet, and yet - you have to learn to keep smiling, learn to suffer like a man, or a woman.

Kobayashi is not a singular example. There are many people who have gone through life without having opportunities to smile. Too many, in fact. Right now we have, in our own country, thousands of people moving towards their homes from their workplaces because of the raging pandemic. Some are walking hundreds of miles to reach home. Some of them get scorched by the sun on the way like Kobayashi’s dew drops. Some are even crushed under listless trains.

The sun, the train, the pandemic – the list is endless. Life is tragedy by and large. The comic reliefs in between are our bonuses. We should learn to suffer like Santiago especially in the days to come.

PS. I’m writing a book on suffering and its lessons. Not titled yet. It will look into the meaning of suffering, how religions (particularly Christianity, Islam and Hinduism) view it, suffering and literature, suffering and psychology + philosophy, ending with an ordinary secular man’s look at suffering. Anyone who wishes to contribute to it with anecdotes, suggestions, questions, etc may contact me at tgmatheikal@gmail.com