Rant 110: Vegetative state

Vegetative State.

VEGETATIVE STATE.

VEGETATIVE STATE. 

I am repeating this so that you  get the soul of this rant in place. Vegetative state. What is it? vegetative state, in simple terms, means a person who is awake but shows no signs of awareness or consciousness. Where do you see such a person? In hospitals probably and maybe sometimes in residences where patients are kept in-house under supervision.

You ask me, most people around me, I feel, are in a vegetative state. I am repeatedly using the word so that you get the word deep in your head. So that it hits you hard with the intensity I want it to hit you. There was this guy in campus who was walking ahead of me. He kept walking and walking and was at a constant gap from me. Suddenly he kicked a dog at the side of the street and the petty puppy just quacked his way out. A few steps later he casually threw the plastic cover of the chips to his left and stepped inside his hostel. For me he is in a vegetative state.

The other day I saw a couple and their two kids strolling in the market. They were at a kulfi store and the couple had gotten them an ice cream each. Right next to them there was a small kid staring at the two kids with a big scoop of ice cream in their hands. All 3 kids were of the same height so the parents did not really see the third kid coming too close. Kids do not know barriers. It is only us when we condition them to adopt and learn barriers like class, sex, race or caste. Both the kids saw the third kid staring at the ice-cream. They both together put forth their ice-creams towards that kid. The parents saw it and pulled back both the kids together and pushed the third one behind. So much so, the kid fell in a puddle of water across the steps. They asked the shopkeeper to throw that kid away for he was creating a nuisance. The shopkeeper rose up and beat that kid badly before he ran away into oblivion and disappeared. For me, these 3 are in a vegetative state. 

How do the doctors treat a vegetative state patient? You keep the hopes alive in them. Most medico’s suggest that the subject should not be made to realise everytime that something is wrong. He or she is aware of that for all seconds of existence. But a lot of concerns and love has to be shown so that their will to keep alive and stay and trust for life remains strong. Can the same logic work here too? Probably not. Why? 

The subjects I mentioned are not aware that they are in a vegetative state. They believe they are expressing and experiencing all emotions of life a human has. But they are forgetting that they have left past the emotions of giving, the emotion of compassion,  the emotions of empathy. Not just that they dont realise they have forgotten, they also force others to understand the fact that they too, should forget and turn to a vegetative state. Such is the sadness with our species.

But there must be something that can be done, no? Every problem has a solution or atleast opens up a door for solution. Maybe beginning with our self is one probable solution. Maybe there might be others which we can discover. I dont know. Sometimes, I too, feel vegetative. I dont know why! 

“Are you done with the rant?” Pal shouted outside.

“Yea, just done. Coming!”

I will leave this here. For you to think who all are in a vegetative state around you. look out for them and let them know they need to be treated. And, treated at depth. 

Always Ranting,  Rantzaada.