Give

This probably isn’t the right time for me to be sitting in front of the computer. I should be studying. But then again, when have I ever done the right things at the right time?! This life that is given to us is too precious. This, I realized while I was traveling in the local bus today. It is my contention that everyone must travel in the local buses of India at least once in their life times. To Mad-ads, you too must really go in those buses once. If you look carefully, one has a lot to learn about life. The most important thing that I gathered from today’s travel- I am one of the luckiest people around. I really shouldn’t be complaining about anything. All of us, we all just wrap ourselves around our own little tiny worlds and don’t see beyond it. There was this man sitting right across from me on the bus. he had a shirt on with most of the buttons gone. His trousers were torn. He didn’t have any footwear on. But, he didn’t care about his clothes. That is not to say he didn’t have any worries. He had causes of worry which made worrying about his clothes insignificant. The frown and glum look on his face was galvanizing. All through the journey, I somehow longed to see him smile. But it was not to be. A man on a bus carrying brooms to be sold in the city. He didn’t have much of a ‘Life’, to put simply. No partying, no pub hopping, not wondering if he should wear his red tie or his black tie to work! We have people struggling to get their next meal, and we have people buying cars and gadgets with limitless zeros following a digit. HOW? Does it not bother people that the man sitting next to them might starve to death over the next week, while they, sitting right next to him might be able to save his life. Materialism knows no bounds. But it is sad to hear people say that, they spend cause they have the money and they cant help it if the others can’t. I’m not being cynical here, but that is something that I hear from a lot of people. In these years of my existence, I’m disappointed to say that there have been hardly any instances where I have seen people GIVE. If someone does give, its in expectations of getting something in return. There was a line that my father used to repeat quite often when I was younger. It was, “I cried that I didn’t have shoes, until I saw a boy with no feet”. For many years I mocked my father when he said this. I ridiculed him saying a boy with no feet needed no shoes and so his statement was quite redundant. But today, I realize how true it is and what meaning is attached to that statement. We never think of how lucky we are. We need to learn to count our blessings. A song that I learnt long back in kindergarten- ‘count your blessings, name them one by one, count your blessings, see what God has done’. We have all that we need, yet me want more. Man’s greed for material wealth is something that can be wiped out only by gaining true happiness. Happiness and satisfaction. True happiness is something, I for one know cannot be obtained with materials. The only way of making it yours, is by giving and giving and giving. The joy associated with giving, is simply immeasurable and out of this world. For those who haven’t experienced it, try it. Put a smile on the face of that man in the bus. The next time a child comes begging, give him some food. The government will not allow you to give him a job. If he has no home, try to arrange for him to move into a ‘home for the needy’. Visit him once in a while and see the glow on that child’s face. ITS OUT OF THIS WORLD! Try it.