My paternal grandmother passed away on Wednesday, after a brief illness, of adrenal cancer. Bringing up 9 children from a state of abject poverty as a wage labourer in a small village and making sure that they reach a position of relative comfort is an achievement, a quantum leap that can hardly be matched by any of us, regardless. Knowing people capable of such a feat surely is a humbling experience, and puts many of my own 'achievements' into proper perspective.
Never one to raise her voice or beat anyone, she was a very patient person, a quality which unfortunately very few of us care to cultivate. Like I mentioned to my family members, if we place on a weighing scale the good and bad things she has done, it would tilt in the favor of the good. Not that she was philanthrophic, all she had (or not) money for was bring up her children and keep body and soul together, but that she never was one to hurt others. This is a characteristic most of us cannot claim to have, and therefore the scales will always be on the negative side for us, forget about even balancing the two sides. Things that came naturally to her, we cannot dream of achieving after years of labour. For this, she will be a role model to me, I don't need to start looking at Gods until Im sure I have reached atleast her level of non-violence. RIP.
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