NO ONE IS IMMUNE TO PAIN AND SUFFERING

Dear Members of District 105,

Greetings from your IPDD,

As a District Officer for past 3 years, I spent 36 months in office. 28 months of these were covid infected and thus I connected with you from the camera and mic in my Laptop.

Towards the end of 2021, the restrictions were eased and some In Person events started. We planned an In Person District Excom meeting in January at Dubai. This was the first In Person Event after 2 years. The event will be unforgettable for me for many reasons.

The attendance was around 50%, due to Covid scare and UAE changing its weekend. More people travelled from Outside of UAE to attend the session. The experience of connecting with a live person, the hugs, the handshakes, the selfies, the laughter brought feelings of belonging, connecting, love, joy, happiness and relief.

It was such a joy to see volunteers arriving a day early to set up the room, the gifts, sound, light, music. As we spent two days of listening, and sharing our pain of pandemic - each one of us experienced compassion.

My lesson – Compassion is fueled by understanding and accepting that were all made of strength and struggle – no one is immune to pain or suffering. Compassion is not a practice of “better than” or “I can fix you” – it’s a practice based in the beauty and pain of shared humanity.

Lots of love

Gurbinder Singh Punn, DTM Immediate Past District Director