Helping Others

Jagdish Suresh
When, one day, you have made your mark on the world, remember that, in the ultimate analysis, we are all mere temporary custodians of the wealth we generate, whether it be financial, intellectual or emotional.
The best use of all your wealth is to share it with those less fortunate. – N.R. Narayana Murthy. Each of us who prospers in this world has a solemn obligation to recognize his good fortune by giving something back to the society. Compassion is the basis of all morality. Core of life is helping others. The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them. Helping other people is a far more reliable strategy for happiness than focusing solely on yourself. There is no point in living life if we don’t help others, where we can. Happiness is the one commodity in this world that multiplies by division. Imagine doing something out of your comfort zone, but combining it with the simple idea of “kindness”. My core value in life is significance. My desire is to make a positive difference in other people’s life. Life’s more persistent and urgent question is what are you doing for others?
As children these days are getting very selfish in all aspects of life due to TV, internet exposure- children should be encouraged to donate to needy, poor something in cash or in kind by parents- because helping others is the cause of life. It can be easy to find reasons not to do something. However you might be surprised by how much help is at hand if you put yourself out there and commit to a project. It doesn’t have to be a case of struggling alone by yourself. Ask yourself whether we’re chasing the fake rabbit of success or the real rabbit of meaning, defined by your contributions to the Society that stem from principle, virtue, and character. No career is the right career if it is undertaken solely to get rich, or to gain public fame, or to throw one’s weight around. Nor it is the right career, if it is undertaken to meet the expectations of others. And no success is the right success, if it is achieved at Society’s expense. I know of a Senior Doctor (then working at PGI,Chandigarh) when there was no MRI Machine at PGI. Medical Representative of a MRI Machine Company came to that doctor requesting him to refer his patients to their company and they will pay 25% commission of their charges. Doctor politely refused. Medical representative said that why then you would refer to us and what we can do to get your Patients referred to us. Doctor suggested that you credit my account at your place and against three patients referred, the fourth; you charge free. All my poor patients should get that benefit of free MRI. My salute to that doctor. We all know that almost all Doctors get commission on tests. Can few good doctors get inspiration from that doctor? You must have heard of Photo journalist Kevin Carter, who won a Pulitzer prize for his starving toddler photo down on all fours, its head sunk with exhaustion; behind it a vulture awaits its death, shot in Sudan in 1993. After his prize winning ceremony, a reporter asked Carter, as to how many vultures were at the scene. When he said ‘one’, the reporter replied, “I am saying there were two vultures, one of them with a camera.” This message left carter so guilt-ridden that he committed suicide a few months later. And here the rich/middle class is so thick skinned that they don’t feel guilt for the conditions of poor class, for the mess we see all around and are happily showing off their costly dresses, cars, jewellery and their homes. Any compassion, they show for the poor is just to improve their image in Media. Just try and experience the joy of ‘giving’ first hand. Give your time, money, skills to people who need it, and help improve their lives, and trust me; you will get far more joy out of it than anything else. It’s hard to find meaning in what we do, if at some level it doesn’t help someone else or make someone happier. When we focus on others, our world expands. Our own problems drift to the periphery of the mind and so seem smaller.
There is no use whatever trying to help people who do not help themselves. You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he is willing to climb himself – Andrew Carnegie.

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