Learn to Give

The other day, I boarded a luxury AC Volvo bus en route to my office. As I plugged in the headphone and relaxed, I watched an old lady boarding the bus, hobbling with her walking stick, frowning slightly and then smiling. In appearance she looked tiny with a heavily wrinkled face and a bent back. She looked like a woman worn out with years of hard work and suffering. When she finally saw a seat, her face lit up with happiness. The overwhelming sense of relief was evident on her tired face as she thoroughly enjoyed the luxury of the AC bus. Her joy was to end very soon. She was unaware that luxury costs more. When the ticket collector told her that AC bus ticket costs her 5 bucks more than the normal non-AC bus ticket, her face filled with disappointment. Unable to pay the extra cost, she decided to leave. As I watched her getting down, I felt very sorry for the old lady.

Sooner a gnawing sense of Guilt bothered me. I asked myself, “Why did I allow her to leave?”, “Why didn’t I pay those 5 bucks to help the lady, when 5 bucks is not a big deal for me?”, “Why didn’t I help somebody instead of just being a mute spectator?”.

Guilt need not always be the result of doing something inconsiderate or immoral, often it is just NOT doing what you think you should. It was same in my case. The guilt of not doing what I could have easily done haunted me. They say ‘there is no religion higher than human service’. Obviously, we can't all be Mother Teresa or Baba Amte, but we can all live in that spirit. In helping others, we can at least help ourselves. Help ourselves out of guilt.

In our own ways, we should all learn to give