Karuna Before Dark

Kakkanad, Kerala, India

Every person experiences life differently. For most of us, it can be very difficult to imagine living without certain things that we take for granted. Often, in order to fully appreciate just how much we have, we must learn from those who live life differently. For Karuna Before Dark, I traveled to India to explore the hardships faced by elderly women who have no one to care for them. When you or I imagine becoming old and eventually dying, we often picture ourselves surrounded by friends and family, passing in a peaceful, dignified manner. This is not the reality facing these women.

Some were thrown out of their homes by their own children. Some lost their husbands and had no way to support themselves. Some have become too weak in their age to live without constant care. Regardless of how or why, these people were abandoned. 

When I first arrived, I was greeted happily by some of the women because they thought that I was somebody's relative who had come to visit. As I began speaking to different people, however, others became suspicious and felt that I was intruding in their space. I wanted them to know that I had no ill intentions and so I spent quite a bit of time speaking to everyone and did not take any pictures for a long time. I found that they all had stories to tell and they were all just waiting for someone to take the time to listen. 

Why Karuna Before Dark? We have all faced darkness at one point in our lives and regardless of how we dealt with it, human connection is often the strongest force that allows us to find our way again. In Hindi, “Karuna” refers to compassion. When I sat and listened to the stories of these women, I could see that every one of them was facing their own darkness. Not only had they been abandoned by those closest to them, but their age was taking its toll. What I found remarkable was the dedication and care shown by the nuns. They had no obligation to serve, but they took it upon themselves to do so without hesitation, simply to preserve the dignity of their fellow human beings.

Karuna Before Dark allows us to catch a glimpse at the extremes of human behavior. Between the nun, who serves the poorest strangers simply because they are in need, and the family, who abandons their aging relative in order to avoid the hardships of caring for them, where do we see ourselves? It is easy to take for granted the care and support that we receive in our own lives and it is even easier to ignore those who suffer alone. Regardless of who we worship, where we come from, or what we look like, all humans deserve dignity and compassion. This is the focal point of Karuna Before Dark.