"While an active war against what is wrong is necessary to create change, a silent revolution of what is right can be just as useful in making societies a better place."
A much sought after music maestro, allows one student to quietly slip into his class without paying the steep fees that he charges to train aspiring artists. The bouncer of a nightclub in Istanbul ensures that errant guests, who are too drunk, after being hauled outside the joint, get a safe ride home. A high flying lady executive asks to sit beside mothers with infants on every flight that she takes and handles crying infants in a manner that amazes the mother and earns her grateful smiles from many a weary and sleep craving traveler.
We live in a world, where bungling governments and the power-hungry individuals have, in many countries led to unemployment, corruption and countless other social ills. While an active war against what is wrong is necessary to create change, a silent revolution of what is right can be just as useful in making societies a better place.
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Each one of us, with no exception, is certainly blessed with skills, knowledge, personality traits or resources, that enables us to be of help to someone else. But when we get boxed into tight little corners, by the judging standards of the society and unrealistic expectations of our various relationships it is often hard to pierce through the haze in our minds and think beyond ourselves.
Yet being of help is personally gratifying and most people would agree is a good thing to do.Could the solution then be to have one good secret, however big or small it may be, that fits into demanding schedules? It could mean anything from helping people make choices by being a listener, opening closed doors wherever possible or just making it possible to let someone have a little time for relaxation as you temporarily take up their vigil. Leaving this thought as a message in a bottle, it is for the readers of this blog to figure out if having these secrets is indeed useful.
Do not think of doing anything to enhance your image, but look for the beauty of doing it silently. If that doesn't work for you do it anyway that works. Do not think of it as service, think of it as helping others to help yourself; after all the world works in mysterious and serendipitous ways.
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I grew up in a small Indian town where the community was strong enough to ensure that no one went hungry. My own secret began after an educated old man, who had been abandoned by the children he loved, extended his hand to me. Engaging him in a conversation, I gathered that the homeless, even if able bodied, knew hunger far more than they knew the choices they might have. Since then, I carry and distribute packets of biscuits to the homeless at traffic junctions. Many a thankful smile later, I have, without any guilt, left the ideological debate about encouraging begging to armchair idealists.
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A much sought after music maestro, allows one student to quietly slip into his class without paying the steep fees that he charges to train aspiring artists. The bouncer of a nightclub in Istanbul ensures that errant guests, who are too drunk, after being hauled outside the joint, get a safe ride home. A high flying lady executive asks to sit beside mothers with infants on every flight that she takes and handles crying infants in a manner that amazes the mother and earns her grateful smiles from many a weary and sleep craving traveler.
We live in a world, where bungling governments and the power-hungry individuals have, in many countries led to unemployment, corruption and countless other social ills. While an active war against what is wrong is necessary to create change, a silent revolution of what is right can be just as useful in making societies a better place.
*************
Each one of us, with no exception, is certainly blessed with skills, knowledge, personality traits or resources, that enables us to be of help to someone else. But when we get boxed into tight little corners, by the judging standards of the society and unrealistic expectations of our various relationships it is often hard to pierce through the haze in our minds and think beyond ourselves.
Yet being of help is personally gratifying and most people would agree is a good thing to do.Could the solution then be to have one good secret, however big or small it may be, that fits into demanding schedules? It could mean anything from helping people make choices by being a listener, opening closed doors wherever possible or just making it possible to let someone have a little time for relaxation as you temporarily take up their vigil. Leaving this thought as a message in a bottle, it is for the readers of this blog to figure out if having these secrets is indeed useful.
Do not think of doing anything to enhance your image, but look for the beauty of doing it silently. If that doesn't work for you do it anyway that works. Do not think of it as service, think of it as helping others to help yourself; after all the world works in mysterious and serendipitous ways.
*********
I grew up in a small Indian town where the community was strong enough to ensure that no one went hungry. My own secret began after an educated old man, who had been abandoned by the children he loved, extended his hand to me. Engaging him in a conversation, I gathered that the homeless, even if able bodied, knew hunger far more than they knew the choices they might have. Since then, I carry and distribute packets of biscuits to the homeless at traffic junctions. Many a thankful smile later, I have, without any guilt, left the ideological debate about encouraging begging to armchair idealists.
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