It’s Blessed to Give…

We are living in a world that is becoming more and more individualistic and individualised. It’s the ‘I’ factor that’s taking precedence over the ‘We.’ Commerce and materialism have taken over human values like giving and sharing. Schools have a great responsibility to instill the idea of sharing and giving in this generation. Schools can ‘evangelise’ the young minds towards better humanity. It’s where the seeds are planted.

Giving is more than donation. While it definitely helps the recipient, the giver always gains more. It’s like a formula that giving always brings back more: It brings happiness. Happiness is ‘more.’ Do you remember the time as a kid you have shared your food, toys and even clothes with friends? Just as two plus two is four giving always brings you happiness. This, children do not know. As adults we have experienced the joy of giving.

Schools have a big role in instilling the value of giving in children, so that when they go into the world they can be the channel to influence their environment, where they live and work. We have asked children to voluntarily give Rs. 10 every Friday. The funds collected will help children who are physically challenged to have their own wheel chair, preferably automated. We are not asking for donation, but we are teaching children to learn to give. But the issue we are faced with is that the children are averse to giving. More than children I think the parents are.

The resistence is merely because they do not understand the why of giving. Why we give? We don’t give because we have extra. We don’t give because we have sympathy for others. We give not only because we believe in caring and sharing. We give because it brings us happiness. After all we are all looking and craving for happiness and joy all the time. If giving as little as ten rupees can bring happiness, it’s priceless. Researchers have found that random act of kindness boosts your mood and overall well-being, because doing such acts release the happiness hormone.

The concept of giving should be ingrained in children for a better society. When calamity strikes everyone pulls in and gives but otherwise we are reluctant. Imagine if giving becomes a habit or even a culture, no one would go to bed hungry in this world. No one would be without clothes. No one would be without love. No one would lose faith and hope in God. Everyone would value ‘We’ more than ‘I.’ And that one little step for man would be a giant leap for mankind.

Happy Independence Day!

I drive to work at 7 am every morning and I am always bothered by the fact that people don’t follow traffic rules. The lights always seem to be green for them in the early hours of morning. Today, it was different.

There were cars stopping at the signals. I was quite surprised to see that people were not jumping the traffic signals. Quite an amazing sight to see. People were so obedient and disciplined. Then I realized today is independence Day. Also in the last few days there have been sale of flags at the traffic signals and on every side of the crossings the national flags are ‘hoisted.’ These flags seem to remind people that they ought to honour the law. I wish these flags were ‘hoisted’ everyday so that people wouldn’t jump the traffic signals and pose threat to others.

Happy Independence Day!

Battlefield or Playground

Once in a while I come up with an idea and I was sharing one with my wife and my daughter. She told me to stop thinking and I said that’s the greatest freedom we have and we must use it – to think. At this she said that the mind is a battlefield. I retorted saying it’s a playground.

Strength, agility, brains and strategy – all of these are needed in a battle or a sport. I would like to think that our mind is a playground where there’s a lot happening. Many will say that it’s a battlefield. My argument is that the same ‘ammo’ are needed for both then why not take it as a playground. The only difference is the approach. For a sports you won’t stress yourself but for a battle you do. In a sport even if you lose you don’t lose everything, but in a battle you lose a lot, even enthusiasm. Battle is mindlessness but sports is about disciple, respect and honour.

Many people are not able to cope with pressures of life because they take them as battles. If you’ve played a computer game you would understand that no matter how difficult the game gets, you play with the same enthusiasm, as you started.

Treasure First

I was in my psychology class today and there was a lady sitting next to me, who after a while, was looking for her mobile phone. She had kept the phone on the chair and gone for a break and couldn’t find when she came back. After the frantic search she found it in her bag. Relief.

After the class was over and everyone started leaving, a lady came up and asked me if I have seen the lady who was sitting next to me, go out. I said I didn’t. She showed me the mobile and said it was hers. I knew now that the lady was forgetting her mobile again and again.

Although I didn’t get a chance to tell her that she should first take care of the ‘treasure’ before anything else. In this case it’s the mobile phone. A hand bag or a book won’t be of much use to anyone, but a mobile phone will be. Taking care of the treasure first is so important – it could be a relationship, a person or a thing.

Fashionable Disruption

The fashion industry is significantly disrupted in India after the turn of the century. In a country where skin showing was a taboo few decades ago, is now accepting stuff that was unthinkable at one point of time. Walk into any clothing store today and you will see skimpy clothes adorning the mannequins.

The industry that remained under the ‘sensor board’ is now loosening up quite a lot. I was at the mall and this thought came to me that how markets make it conducive for people to wear what they wouldn’t have worn before. The latest fad that has hit the stores is a women’s top with a cut at the shoulder. The sleeve is there and it’s not there. It’s not a cut-sleeve but a cut-shoulder. It’s a different thing altogether that a child and woman are wearing the same style irrespective of weather it suits or not.

I feel even cultures are turned around by market and commerce. The culture of dressing up in the city is catching up fast. It’s nice to see people dress up and come out just to have an ice cream. The fashion industry is really disrupted by the west and even the ethnic clothes are made stylish and modern.

World – a better place now

We were having a conversation on how people were tortured and killed by the Nazi or dictators of the past. The world has experienced horrific history because the powerful had the freedom to their disposal. The innocent and the weak suffered.

But today people are more safe and living better lives than centuries ago. Freedom has come to the masses now and not a pet of the classes. If you ask me what’s the merit of social media I would say freedom. Even people who cannot say it upfront can post their views and feelings. An individual has as much power as a group. In the past this wasn’t so. Also education of ALL has changed the perception of many. People have burried their prejudices to care for one another more in today’s world. People can opt for careers that they like and still make a decent living.

The world has changed for better and we should all join hands to make it more beautiful. When a group of kids get stuck in a cave the whole world comes to help. That’s the power of humanity. All the evil in the world cannot destroy the good that is there.

Action reaction

Newton’s third law states that For every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction. This is used in human interaction too. I think that’s stretching physics a little too much. Equal and opposite reaction doesn’t always fetch good result, especially in human interaction.

I was practicing for the Saturday mass with my choir and a boy walks up to me, looking very scared, and says, “I broke a guitar string while playing and I will certainly replace it tomorrow.” To this I said it’s ok if it’s broken, just find one in the guitar case and replace. He looked very relieved. My colleague was surprised that I didn’t react as per the boy’s expectation and said that’s a good thing I did. Just yesterday I heard a friend advising someone on the phone not to react to everything.

This brings us to the fact that responding, rather than reacting, helps. Sometimes it’s even better to just ignore, otherwise a trivial thing gets too much importance. I guess Newton’s 3rd law doesn’t apply to human interaction. Sometimes the best way to react is to act, and act wisely.

Everyone’s Beautiful

I was taking my class in class 1 and a girl came up and said, ” Sir you are looking beautiful.” I thanked her and continued with the class. I didn’t say anything to ‘correct’ her. At the end of the class her class teacher came and I told her about it. The teacher tried to correct her by saying men are handsome. To this the girl replied “but everyone is beautiful.”

Isn’t this a reality? The child is not concious about the correctness of saying but she is right whatsoever. Everyone is beautiful. Her understanding of people, as of now, is that they’re beautiful. How I wish this remains with her all her life. The world will teach her to discriminate on the basis of sex, class, wealth, religion, food choices, and so on.

Every human being is beautiful given a scenerio where he or she doesn’t need to judge the other. Every one is packed with strengths and weaknesses. Everyone is capable of success, hardwork, love and empathy. Somewhere in our living we become biased and self-centred and conceited.