Positive. Covid-19. That was the text we received after my wife underwent a Covid test a year ago. Unfortunately, we were some 500 kms away from our home at the suburb of Jakarta.
She had been suffering from runny nose and coughing since the day before. As her condition worsened, we suspected that she was infected by Covid virus. The cases of Covid infections had indeed been soaring during the last few weeks. Our suspicion was right. Positive.
As we holed ourselves at the hotel’s room, we started thinking of what we could do to get the anti-virus drugs as fast as we could. And we came to the same answer: contacting our doctor friend and neighbour back home. After consulting our situation, the doctor wrote an anti-virus drug prescription, took a photo of it, and sent it through the WhatsApp connection.
We forwarded the photo to our daughter for help. And just in one or two hours, we got the medicines. My wife consumed the drugs and had self-isolation for more than 10 days. I took her to the local community health centre to get a Covid test. Negative! Praise the Lord!
Sisters and brothers in life
We are fortunate to have a doctor as our close friend. We have known each other for more than 20 years. We attended the same church and have joined a monthly neighbourhood family gathering for two decades where five to eight couples usually attended. Our relations have deepened through the years and we have been growing more like sisters and brothers in life.
When one or two group members were in their nadir due to life problems, the others extended their sincere supports. When someone was very sick, the others helped find effective solutions so that she or he could get well again. We have also been enjoying very warm and joyful moments when we were jogging or savouring dinner together, or having a picnic to a lovely place somewhere not far away.
All of us were born and grew up in other provinces, even coming from other islands where our extended families and siblings live. It is therefore difficult to get their immediate support when we were facing some emergency situations.
Have such a bond of friendship and brotherhood with several couples living so close to our home has indeed been a blessing. And over the last two decades, this small group has shown its benefit to us all as its members.
My wife, who are slightly older than the other members and happened to study counselling before, have been entrusted as sister and adviser when some group members need inputs to handle their life problems.
Through the years, we have also cheered our friends with cakes, fruits or other gifts when they have their birthdays or other special celebrations. This also included delivering meals or fruits when they should isolate themselves due to recent Covid pandemic.
My wife and I have also enjoyed their generosity. We have had their expressions of caring for so many times: such as receiving cakes or snacks that we love, fruits, salads or gifts when their families had an opportunity to travel to other places. All these expressions of love have made our life very warm and joyful.
More meaningful
No man is an island. We have heard these wise words for so long. And it is still very true if not getting much truer these days. The advance of technology these last two decades has made our lives much easier…but also upside-down at the same time.
We can get almost everything we need through our gadgets right from our home. We could get meals delivered, we could entertain ourselves with movies, songs, games and other entertainments right inside our dwelling. Oftentimes, we are tempted to think that we don’t need other people to live and enjoy our lives. We could make ourselves busy all our waking hours as the technology has been providing anything we need around the clock.
It might be true to some extent. But, we are created as persons who need to open our hearts to embrace other people in brotherhood. We need other people – close and true friends – to make our lives more meaningful, enjoyable and bearable.
It was very sad when we heard recent news on just how a woman or a family of four died inside their houses and were only discovered by their neighbours several days afterwards. Nobody – no friends or families – have been there during their fateful last days. It was very sad that they had no supporting community or neighbour groups to help making their days more bearable and worth living for.
Similar cases have been happening in other advanced countries with more individualistic values. We have heard many times where a person died inside his or her apartment and was only being discovered days, weeks or even months later.
Hearty reunion
A few weeks ago, my wife’s mobile rang. One of her friends said that Steve and Emyl, her in-laws, were visiting Indonesia and wanted to come by to our home. We were very excited because Steve and Emyl were among the first few couples joining the small group I wrote above when it was initiated back in the year 2000 or 2001.
They decided to emigrate to Melbourne, Australia, in the year 2006. They have been living there since then with their two lovely daughters. About ten years ago, when they visited Pontianak, West Kalimantan, my wife and I had a chance to meet them there. Emyl and my wife were both born in Pontianak and we happened to come to the city for family visits. Steve and Emyl met us there and we had a hearty reunion.
Our six years as small group members in the early 2000s have made our friendship as close as real brothers and sisters. We really missed them when they decided to emigrate to Australia.
And now, they came again to the town we live near Jakarta. That afternoon, they indeed showed up at our house and we shared another special time together. Our very dear friends, our brother and sister in Christ, were right here at our living room. It made our day…as we savour the journeys of our lives all through the years.
We are fortunate to have such a true brotherhood. Not only with Steve and Emyl and our current group members, but also with our long-ago close friends now living in Brisbane, Sydney, Perth, Auckland, even in Seattle, Philadelphia and other global places.
They all have enriched our memories and made our hearts very warm every time our minds wander through the years when our lives intertwined with each other.
So, although you can get almost everything through your gadgets these days, don’t forget to invest special time and energy to join one or two community groups; gatherings where you can intimately, openly and trustfully share your lives with the other members…and grow together as healthy social beings.
Don’t get lost in your own world; in your own aloneness and friendlessness. Find the real meaning of your creation through the warm-hearted true brothers and sisters near you. Sharing your lives will also surely enrich and lighten the burden of other members. We still need true and trusted friends to make our life journey worthwhile and more meaningful. (HS)
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