Changing seasons

Seasons change; it is a fact of life. How much should I change or should I change itself is the question! 

One thing I have enjoyed in the North has been the changing seasons - winter and a short spring, the long summer with a short monsoon added in, and then the short autumn. Despite the severity of some seasons, there is always something to hope for: this too shall pass! Some other parts of our nation have only hot, hotter, hottest, hot and humid, and back to hot. (I am not really looking forward to this. 😞)  

What we learn from observing these changes is that many things change, but some things do not. Many things perish, but new life emerges. Observe the tree outside our window. Leaves turn yellow; most fall and die, but soon, new ones emerge. Birds move out for some time but return. Some birds keep watch, like watchmen waiting for dawn to appear and for the season to change, since their habitat is also affected by seasonal change! Amid all these changes, the tree remains strong, though its colours and leaves change and fall.  

Is this not a picture of life, too? Seasons of life change as well—from busyness to lighter seasons and back to rat races. Relationships that sour become sweetened again. There are seasons when you grow, other times when you stop growing, and at times when you go back a few steps and then pick up again.  And we watch and desire to return to what was there yesterday! 

But some things change and do not return—like my cognitive function. These days, I go into a room and then wonder why I came in. A few years ago, it was not so. I travel, come back, and it takes a day to recover, unlike yesteryears when I could keep running! My identity has not changed, but my way of functioning has.  

The loved ones who have left us have moved on to the other side and will never return, yet the memories will never fade. The past season will never return. 

I remember writing this blog a few months back about cognitive function! I am not sure why I wrote what I wrote then. Neither I nor my close ones have seen much change in me since then. May be it will take more time for any observable change.

https://santhoshsramblings.blogspot.com/2023/08/gold-fish-memories-and-mediterranean.html

But then, the reality is that some things are beyond our control. Cognitive function will deteriorate. Though we wish friends and loved ones who left us had not gone so fast, and questions arise about whether we could have prevented it, the reality is that these are beyond our control.  

Even in politics and national leadership, we are seeing a season change. The MAGA/MIGA/MEGA/MCGA, from each nation and region, is filling the pockets of billionaires and billionaire nations while pushing the already challenged ones further into poverty. Will this season remain forever, or will we return to one of more equity and justice?  

https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/billionaire-wealth-surges-2-trillion-2024-three-times-faster-year-while-number

One thing we can learn amid all this is the importance of returning to the roots - literally, the roots of the trees. Trees remain strong throughout seasons of change because of deep roots that draw water and nutrition, like the tree outside our window. Or like the redwood forests, with shallow but interconnected roots that support each other and help them stand tall through changing seasons.  

 

Deep roots and interconnected roots! I wonder—how deep and or interconnected am I?