A lot of children are often a lot wiser than their age would generally suggest. A doctor, Dr Alastair McAlpine, has been witness to a lot of negativity everywhere. These experiences led him to post some of the insights that he has gained from a lot of his incurable and terminally ill patients. It is definitely a very surprising fact that the children who have said these things were all less than nine years old. Yet, it is very interesting to see that they were capable enough to know what makes life worth it.
Dr Alastair is a palliative care physician in the city of Cape Town in South Africa where he assists in reducing the pain of children who are on their slow march to death. His medical profession is not meant to cure the illnesses that they face, but to ensure that the pain these children bear is lesser and they are joyful and comfortable.
When he started posting about what the children that he cared for usually expressed, his Twitter thread went viral. The responses of the children are very wise, but also extremely saddening. We can all learn valuable things about life from all the things that the children have expressed.
1. None of his patients cared about spending any time on their devices.
Not one of the kids wanted to watch more TV or spend additional time on Facebook. No one enjoyed fighting with others and none of them enjoyed being at the hospital.
2. Interaction with animals is very valuable.
A lot of children mentioned their pets and how their barks made them laugh or how they loved to snuggle with them.
3. All of them love their mom and dad.
Many of them expressed their concern for their parents. They wished that their parent should be alright, not get worried and that God would take care of them.
4. Love for ice-cream transcends all.
All of them shared their love for ice-cream.
5. Reading is good!
Practically all of them loved books and they liked stories recited by their parents and everyone around them.
6. Worrying brings no good to anyone. Ever!
A lot of them wished that they had spent lesser time thinking about how others were to perceive them. They wished they got more opportunities to cherish the people who were truly caring
and treated them ‘normally’.
7. Beaches are loved by all.
Many of the kids loved to swim and loved the beach. Outdoor activity was very enjoyable for them because they could not take going outdoors for granted.
8. Kindness above all.
Most of them understood the intrinsic value of kindness because they were unnecessarily subjected to scrutiny and unwelcome behaviour by their peers.
9. No medicine can surpass good old laughter.
Everyone loved to laugh and never gave up a chance to laugh at anything remotely funny.
10. Toys are meaningful to children.
Kids absolutely adore their toys and these kids are no different than any other.
11. The best times are with the family.
All the children valued the time that they spent with their families. Nothing was more important than family to them.
We can all perhaps, unanimously agree to the fact that it is the small everyday things in life which make it matter. But it is definitely an eye-opener when children who know that their time on the planet is very limited say it. So it should suffice to say that we can all learn something of value from them and love the ones who truly matter to us.
