I love this song by Marc Cohen. It’s a little melancholy but with hope; that sets a pretty appropriate tone for this blog entry. A few years ago, I remember that during the same week my uncle died, his grandson got married. They thought about delaying the wedding but ultimately went ahead because, you know, life goes on. During this week we were reminded at MAII-Stratford University that while we focus on the rewards of seeing young men and women launch their professional lives, you know, life goes on.
Story one: This week we had a police officer and
an officer of the Foreign Resident Registrar Office (FRRO) showed up at the
campus. He was there because the car registered to one of our students was
identified as having been involved in car/pedestrian accident. The car had left
the accident scene but someone had written down the license plate number. We
contacted the student to whom the care was registered but he said he had sold
the car to another student and didn’t know anything about the accident. That
student was then contacted. He REALLY didn’t want to admit to anything. Facing
police action in a foreign country (both students are from Nigeria) has to be
daunting.
Ultimately Student 2 admitted that he had bought
the car from Student 1 and had been driving. With that Student 1 was off the
hook but Student 2 was now in deep yogurt. A court date was set and then India
raised her head. Mr. Ramdas did some research and found out the head FRRO
officer with whom we routinely work is a classmate of the chief inspector at
the police station that was investigating the accident. Ramdas asked his help
in resolving the situation. So our FRRO guy talked to his friend the police
inspector to find out what had to happen to make the whole thing go away. So it
turns out, about $500 to the victim and a little something-something on the
side for the police and a near fatal hit and run just disappears because, you
know, life goes on.
Story two: Monday morning I got an email from a
student. He was in the hospital and needed help. The day before he had been
badly beaten by “an unknown group of guys”. He had puncture wounds on his head;
a gash on his arm, a broken bone in the same arm, and several broken bones in
his hand. His wounds had been treated, his arm set, a steal rod inserted into
one of the bones in his hand. He wasn’t healed but he was treated, was ready to
be discharged, and then India raised her head.
The problem was he didn’t have the money
necessary to clear his bill. His family also did not have enough money available.
They had some assets they were willing to sell but that would take a few days.
The hospital would not release him until he cleared the bill. They would hold
him, each day adding more to his bill. Again, Mr. Ramdas to the rescue. He and
I went to the hospital to meet with the student and hospital management. While
I visited with the student, Ramdas went to bat for the student arguing the
hospital should discount the bill because he was a poor student and couldn’t
clear the bill. They finally agreed to about a 25% discount and Mr. Ramdas paid
them with cash we had brought from the campus (I don’t think there was anything
extra on the side).
I had approved the payment; I’m sure the family
will pay us back as they can. I just couldn’t see what was gained by having
this young man sitting in the hospital, day after day, with the bill increasing
each day. After we got John released, we helped get him relocated to the
apartment of a friend who can help him and which should be safer than where he
was living. He will miss school for a while and I am sure he will have to go
through rehab, but he is alive. The police do not seem to be interested in
finding those involved in John’s beating. Word on the street is they are known.
The people in the “village” are pretty aware of an ongoing interaction between
John and a group of men (I won’t call them gang, but it could be so called) that
has been escalating. I suspect John may not be totally innocent in all of this
but I am also suspect he did not do anything to justify his beating other than
being an outsider, but, life goes on.
The visit to John also showed me that my hospital
experience could have been much worse. John was in an economy wing of the
hospital. Perhaps somewhat related to the fact that it was a post-surgery/orthopaedic
ward, it reminded me a little of pictures I have seen of field hospitals during
World War II. However, I am sure those field hospitals had better staffing than
was evident in John’s case. I will say the bed did not seem that much different
from the one I had. Mine might have been newer, with a few less coats of paint,
but the style and size were identical.
Story three: There is an old wife’s tale that bad
things happen in threes. That was true last week for us. On Thursday we found
out that one of our recent graduates (last year) had died. This was a tragic
situation. Eric was a good student and had a bright future professionally and
in his country. Apparently he had an illness we didn’t know about. He had been
sick for a while and shortly after the first of the year the pace of the
disease’s progression accelerated. We had to tell the students, many of whom of
course knew Eric. Our moment of silence and my phone call to his father seem
like an inadequate response.
Life, may, in fact, go on. But it didn’t for
Eric. I also think while it will go on for our students, I don’t think it will
do so without at least a temporary deflection. I am sure the events of this
week will cause at least some of them to stop and think about the fragility of
life. Some of them may actually be a little more careful.
Finally, today is Easter. I don’t try to use this
blog as a platform for espousing my religious beliefs but they are central to who
I am. I can’t let a day with as much importance to me as Easter pass without
comment. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. I believe he willingly
died and was resurrected, becoming a perfect immortal being, and in that process
overcame death so that everyone who lives, or has lived and died, will live again. I
believe that in ways we cannot totally understand, he atoned for our sins.
Because of that we can truly change both our behavior and our essence. We can
improve, grow, and overcome sin and mistakes. He opened the path so that in
time we can become as He and our Father in Heaven are.
Here is a short video that captures my beliefs
well.
Because of Him, life, in deed, does go on.
Namaste.
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