SACRIFICE

Pic.: Neerja Panchal

At our home,

there was this Bible-reading every night.

Too often, we used to  read the passage:

‘Let your left hand not know

what your right hand gives.”

Yet, countless times,

we would hear our parents yell at us:

“We have done so much sacrifice for you,

and, in return…”

I neither understood Christ’s words,

nor the outburst of  my parents…

I was immune to both!

When I became an adult, I, too, used to help others,

a hundred times…

and, later, I would grumble and crib about it,

just the way my parents did…

Now, when I read the passage from the Bible,

I understand its significance, its relevance.

Sacrifice can be done only in silence…

Be it my weekly fast or the occasional charity;

Be it towards my children or my partner,

or, towards my nation…

Yes, Sacrifice is giving in gladness…

As Kahlil Gibran says:

“You give but little when you give of your possessions…
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”

GERALD D’CUNHA

‘THE COBWEBS’ was one of the popular booklets I had written and published for THE DAWN CLUB in its early years. It was first published in 1991. Once again, what made this book connect with the readers was that it spoke in first person… The passages – some twelve of them - seemed straight from one’s own heart, they sounded like one’s own voice…

This passage – ‘SACRIFICE’’ – is one of the popular passages from the book – ‘THE COBWEBS’.