Today's post is inspired by an elderly lady whom I saw across the signal while waiting for the red light to turn green. With her back hunched and a simple white bag on her fragile shoulder, she walked from side to side trying to hail a rickshaw in the rain. None of them stopped for her so she tried to walk up to cars and check if someone would give her a ride. Yet, no one seemed to offer her any help. Their skepticism peeked through their glass windows.
Looking at this scenario I came to realize how senior citizens are treated in our cities. There are no special facilities for them in terms of their transport or even just simple help from most fellow humans, not even the traffic police. Due to immense poverty, lack of job opportunities, socioeconomic discrepancy and many other factors, things tend to get so challenging for a certain strata of people, that every day life becomes devoid of simple pleasures that as humans we ought to experience.
Are we becoming immune to a dysfunctional society? Or do we just not care about others around us? We fight for all sorts of issues, tweet all day to express our angst at the world, but in reality how many of us get out of our air-conditioned cars and take a peek at the world outside of us. How many times do we invite someone into our world and attempt to smooth out their creases? How often do we stop talking and start giving?
The opportunity to give comes very often but the question is whether we recognize it? Giving is not just an act of kindness but its a gesture which reinforces the receivers belief in the goodness of people and that of life. Whenever we give, we not only receive tenfold, we also activate gratitude and happiness.
An act of generosity for the giver might not mean much but for the receiver it can be a miracle in manifestation. So when its easy to create a miracle then why not? When its easy to stop for a moment to help a stranger in need, then why not? And when its easy to offer hope that goodness exists in our world, then why not? So to the lady at the Signal, I hope that she received her miracle today and I thank her for giving me the opportunity to be inspired.
