06-21-2011, 03:13 PM
One of my friends is a doctor at a local hospital. Once I went to see him during his duty-hours. He was going on his daily round in the hospital. So I accompanied him as he visited patient after patient after patient, from one ward to another. It was a small hospital. It had three wards, one for male patients, one for female patients and one for the children. The doctor being male, was to visit only the first and the third ward. As we entered the first ward. I saw some thirty beds arranged opposite to each other with a passage between them. Men lying on them wore striped clothes. My doctor friend stopped at the first bed. Poor fellow had broken his leg in a motor accident. The bandaged part of the leg indicated the place of injury. He complained to the doctor of severe pain. The doctor told the nurse on duty to give him aspirine, and moved to the next bed. This person had a serious stomach trouble for which he had to be operated upon. He was, however, recovering fast. The next two patients were asleep so the doctor inquired from the nurse of their condition. In about forty-five minutes the doctor had examined each patient and gave instructions in each case. My friend must have been very humane in treating his patients, for I saw that almost all of them welcomed him with a cheerful, confident smile. But I knew that behind these smiles was hidden bitter pain and heartrending misery. That day I realized how helpless man could be before disease. There were those who had sore eyes, those who had fractured arms, those who suffered from small-pox, typhoid and cancer. Then we entered the children, s ward. I was grieved to see the little boys and girls suffering from fever, typhoid and other such diseases. The doctor took thirty minutes to completed his round. I kept on looking, in the meantime, at the innocent faces. Some of the small boys and girls were crying in pain, some were sleeping while others were eating the sweets their parents had brought for them. A few of them were reading story books. I spent about one hour and a half in the hospital. But I did not think I had wasted the time. On the country , I had, perhaps for the first time, seen a tragic but real aspect of human life. That day , I understood why it is vain to be proud and haughty. Man is great, no doubt, but he is also helpless. And the expressions I observed on the patiens faces! They remembered Allah in their trouble, repented their sins and implored the Almighty to have mercy on them. I felt as if this experience had renewed my faith in Allah. As I cam out of the hospital, I had a feeling that I had been changed from within. I felt sympathy for the suffering men and children and I realized the helplessness of man. The visit to the hospital taught me the lesson of humility which I could not have learnt otherwise.