Turn Illness Into Blessings

Turn Illness Into Blessings

By Deacon Alex Kwok

It seems that nobody can remain healthy and strong all the time. Almost all people fall sick for some time in their life due to either the environment or their life style. Whatever type of illness one catches, it is a suffering affecting him and his family members to a certain extent. If the illness is chronic, it will affect the person’s productivity. In a commercial and competitive society like Hong Kong, the illness will drain the person emotionally and financially and will waste away his self-image too. In short, any illness will inflict sufferings for some length of time on the sick person as well as the people around him, be they his family members, classmates or colleagues. Can illness be a blessing in disguise?

I am not able to speak for all and can only share my diabetes experience. Before it erupted more than three and a half decades ago, I used to be quite an energetic teacher with my students and colleagues. The school cheered a short sprinter in the final leg of teacher-student 4x100m relays. Students enjoyed the whimsical talks I delivered and engaged in challenges I post in my lessons … Those good old days receded when I lost more than 20 kg within two months one summer. I tired easily, drank a lot of water and answered the call of nature frequently. Looking back, my life style caused the illness. I used to walking more than 40 minutes from home to school. After marriage, I moved to Tuen Mun and drove more than 40 minutes to school instead. Around the same time, the Education Department pushed forth Information Technology and my school join the pilot scheme. I spent a lot of time in developing teaching materials for this novel curriculum and became more sedentary. Consequently, I depleted my insulin reserve and diabetes descended on me. It was not painful at all but the future would be grim: amputation of legs, blindness and kidney failure etc. awaited me! The very thoughts of those complications pushed me into depression and I became reticent. Had my wife not been cheering me up constantly in those days, I would have buried myself alive in the sepulchre of diabetes. She refused to become a widow so soon!

What blessings have I found in my diabetes?
First, my diabetes woke my children, my friends and colleagues up. Suddenly they discovered that diabetes was not an old-man disease but it could happen to anybody with an “unhealthy” life style. The next blessing is more significant. My mother belonged to the older generation and would be happy to give birth to many children. However, wars and revolutions in mainland China denied her of the pride of being a mother of many children. She gave birth to only two sons and they literally endeared her and “belonged” to her. My younger brother never got married while I married my first love. You can imagine the kind of tension between my wife and my mother when we told her that we planned to move to Tuen Mun after marriage. She was burning with fury inside her! She made different kinds of mindboggling requests in order to keep me connected … until my diabetes erupted. At last, my mother accepted that “a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body” (Genesis 2:24). The tension between my wife and my mother evaporated. I am grateful that God gave me diabetes.

Of course, life is not yet a bed of roses and the prince and princess do not live happily ever after. My wife quitted her job to take care of the children and me. She adjusted her cooking habits to take into consideration my dietary requirements. She studied herbal medicine and acupuncture, hoping to discover the proper cure of my diabetes etc. I am grateful.

Beloved brethren! In July, let us join our prayers with the Pope that the sick and their caretakers may become ever more a visible sign of compassion and hope for us all. Amen.
God bless!