“Grief knits two hearts in closer
bonds than happiness ever can; and common sufferings are far stronger links
than common joys.”
Two men, two stories, both stories
become one and turn into one story that greatly gets me thinking and affects my
life. This story is probably a story you have heard or seen in a movie before,
names changed of course.
Salvatore, a multi billionaire. He
was plump, wore the finest of clothes and almost bald but he could captivate
you with his charm and poise. His attitude was arrogant yet prudent and his
mind was black yet white. He was the owner of a hospital …the best hospital in Manhattan.
He achieved a lot in his young age and soon, he had a chain of hospitals all
over the world. Nobody had ever heard of his family and all that he enjoyed for
his pleasure was a new attractive young lady each week and the aroma and taste
of the rarest brewed coffee.
The other man was Richard Dickson. He
was a man all of 59. Pepper grey hair, tall, freckled, an African-American and
a library, literally. He was a storehouse of knowledge. If knowledge could ever
be produced, reproduced or harvested he would be the manufacturing powerhouse.
He could tell the entire timeline of an event, the inventor of any material
thing or the answer to any mathematical or scientific puzzle. He was an average
middle class man who had a beautiful wife and three children who had grown to
be a beautiful lady and gentlemen. He worked in a garage to make his two ends
meet.
One bright spring morning in March,
turned out to be the gloomiest day of the lives of these two men. They both
were detected with brain cancer, last stage, numerous cycles of chemotherapy to
add time and eventually a horrible death. The irony of this entire situation
was the owner of the hospital was admitted in a twin sharing room of the same
hospital that he owned.
However funny it sounds, these two
men, complete opposites as they were, hated each other. Arrogance and humility
obviously never goes hand in hand, but then they grew to adjust, like and
eventually love each other. They laughed together, played cards together and
often cried together wondering what is left of their life. Richard loved to
scribble and everyday Salvatore saw him scribble on a piece of paper and throw
it. One morning when he woke up he saw the piece of paper and out of sheer curiosity
he saw three words written, neat and crisp. “The bucket list”. Under it was a
list of things that seemed rather bizarre to Salvatore like helping a stranger,
climbing the Himalayas etc. Just then Richard woke up to see a wondering
Salvatore with his yellow crumpled piece of paper. He told him to give it back
to him but when Salvatore persisted Richard told him that it was a list of
things that he wants to do before he dies and he keeps making new ones.
That day was a bright new awakening
for the two of them. Salvatore his adventurous self penned down other things
like Sky diving, staying the night in a pyramid and drinking till he can’t
remember. Richard laughed to Salvatore’s idea thinking they were almost
impossible but they made it happen. The list had “Helping a stranger”,
“Laughing till I cry”,“Sky diving”, “Climbing the Himalayas”,”
Going to the Taj Mahal”, “exploring Egypt” etc. They had just 3 months to live;
they went against the entire world to live their dreams. They sky dived and
traveled and drank and danced and that’s when, in the first time of their lives
felt alive, happy and living. One day Richard’s wife called Salvatore and told
them to return with a lot of pain and agony and that’s when Salvatore realized
the value of his family. He returned back to Manhattan with Richard. Richard
finally decided to spend the last few days with his wife as falling in love was
a thing he hadn’t felt in a long time and he wanted to fall in love with her
all over again. They hugged and kissed as if it were the last time but
unfortunately it was. One day his wife decided to surprise him by wearing the
most stunning dress she had when she met him for the first time. He waited for
her to get ready and gorgeously stroll across the room and into his arms. She
came dressed and pretty to make it a night to remember and saw him lying on the
floor and she knew the end was near. She rushed him to the hospital.
Meanwhile, Salvatore went to meet his
long lost daughter who he had broken all relationships with because she married
a man from a way lower class that they were at.
He apologized to her and he told her
that he loves her the most. They cried together and hugged and the moment felt
like an entire lifetime he had missed. He realized that in making money he had
forgotten about things that gave him a lot of happiness!
Salvatore went to meet Richard in the
hospital and they spoke about their good times and laughed so much they cried.
One more thing was striked off the list. They both told each other how thankful
they were for having each other and the last 3 months were the most beautiful
months of their lives. Richard was soon taken in for a surgery and that was
when his body gave up. He died but he had lived and it was one of those few
times when a person’s eyes were close and heart open.
On his funeral Salvatore spoke about
how dear Richard was and how much he had changed him and his life and that is
when he striked off “Helping a stranger on the list”, because they both had
helped each other in ways they never knew. A month later Salvatore succumbed to
the cancer but the bond always remained, and the bond is such that it makes a young girl wonder how important it is to live our life to the fullest.
Finally Salvatore’s daughter and
Richard’s wife climbed the Himalayas with the remains of their ashes and buried
it at the peak because they always wanted to be in the cool to have a beautiful
after life. That is when she scribbled off the last point which was “to climb
the Himalayas”.
Two lives that perished but a bond
that will stay forever. The unbreakable bond.
