Resilience An Act of Love

i’ve been an educator for around

10 years and worked across

different age groups all the way from

three years old to first-time teachers

to seasoned government educators who are

still working very hard

to make a difference even at age 60.

i’m sure um you’re done with teachers

and educators giving you sermons on zone

so i’m not i’m not going to do that

today

but i do want to share a little bit

about my greatest teacher

um a few years ago

i met um my teacher

her name is bambi yeah

so that’s bambi

um she was a seven month old girl

who was thrown away abused and

very ill a lady walking across

in her colony was kind enough to stop

and notice her hiding under a car

in the rain and after

weeks of trying to get bambi adopted uh

the people caring for her really

struggled to find someone who wanted her

somehow nobody one seemed to have want

to have anything to do with an indian

girl

too dark to be considered beautiful and

too

sick and wounded to be responsible for

i knew that i

that it would be a difficult challenge

for her but i

really don’t know what made me take her

in

i got a phone call about bambi and it

was a decision i took in

all of a minute knowing that i would

have a lot

of convincing to do at home

but something about her story just stuck

with me

she was like many of us like me

at so many points in my life feeling

helpless sometimes abandoned

and just looking for a place to belong

i spent a week preparing for her arrival

she had been through so much so much

pain

and i knew it would be a lot for her i

thought of

how strong i would have to be for her

knowing that

she’s had such a difficult life

full of challenges and pain she couldn’t

see clearly she was all

she was partially blind um and i was

really preparing myself to be ready for

this

challenge and the love that she would

need

i knew she would be possibly guarded and

snappy and

i would need so much time to build trust

with her

it seemed a little familiar to me

reminded me of

times i had had to build my walls up and

protect myself and just put a brave face

to the world

so the day she finally came i went

to pick her up um

and all my training and preparation that

i had done

out of the window this

wounded soldier that i was preparing for

that’s not who came

um she just slept into my arms

immediately covered me with love

and a lot of slobber i didn’t

realize it at the time but looking back

um i needed her much more

than she ever needed me

what ensued with our relationship was

just a crazy roller coaster of a bond

that i can never forget

playing tug of war with pillows stealing

food from the kitchen

day spends in office together she became

quite a celebrity in the office

too and we had just become inseparable

um through our time together

pamby taught me the most important

lessons

about resilience number one

she taught me to hold myself lightly

and connect with my inner child

to savor the little things and not take

myself

so seriously then our experiences might

be challenging at times

but life doesn’t have to be so hard

she helped me remind myself that

i’m human and the world is full it’s

not just challenges and pain

there is abundance and love all around

me

and i just needed a fresh perspective

she made me stop living a life

that was busy and instead

helped me live a life that was full

that was complete

the second thing she taught me was to

always

work with 100 love and trust

the same love and trust she had with me

to be emotional to be expressive

and connect deeply with my people

to the people who work alongside me

every day

um she taught me that that was my

strength

my strength was my vulnerability not

my guarded walls i think the most

important lesson which is the crux of

all of this is that she taught me that

resilience is not hard and painful

and it shouldn’t have to hurt i’m not a

machine and i’m not at war

and i need to take care of myself before

i can give to others

people in service or caregivers

who work with children in communities

who are under resourced

we tend to push ourselves beyond

superhuman limits

there is a pandemic and we need to feed

our families

we need to reach children who have no

access and

work with teachers who never use

technology

and it’s completely on us to solve this

crisis because

this is a large part of india right now

but it’s not

resilience is not about being tough

through challenges it’s not about

self-sacrifice and it’s not about

burnout

it doesn’t have to feel hard

and it is not self-preservation

resilience is a simple act

of love and compassion

for others but most importantly for

ourselves

taking time out for your mental health

practicing self-compassion

practicing care and just pausing

being gentle and deliberate and taking

the world in

that is what resilience is about

so just to close if i had to

leave you with something today

it would be this what

is your act of compassion

to yourself today because only then

you are truly resilient