THE CURRENCY CALLED KINDNESS
I seriously feel, that God is more impressed
by our random acts of kindness rather than by our loud acts of charities.
Today is Thursday… the Sai Baba day. My elderly
maid, who has been helping me to keep my workplace clean for over twenty-five
years, turns up with some mahaprasad… either from a local Sai Baba
temple or from another house where goes to works…. She has been doing it for
years despite my request not to bother… A few minutes ago, she handed me a
small container of sheera… She knows , I love sweets, particularly the sheera…
What is my maid’s motivation? What does she
gain from pleasing me like this?
An hour ago, a sales representative of a
Pest Control agency had visited my office trying his luck. I did not go for a
contract with him… but, I spoke to him gently and offered him a glass of cool water to
drink… It was exceptionally hot outside and he must have walked miles trying
his luck…
So, what was my motivation? What did I gain from
pleasing this stranger?
Every time, the seven-year-old Ram sees me
entering our housing colony in a rickshaw, he comes running behind the auto. “Hello,
Gerry uncle,” he greets me, “I will carry your bag.”
“So sweet of you darling,” I run my hand
over Rams’ little head, “Don’t bother… Go and play.”
What is this seven-year-old’s motivation?
What does he gain by pleasing this 58-year-old colony uncle?
My wife’s grandmothers’ elder sister – we fondly
called her Lilly aunty – had put all her love and knitted a lovely little
sweater for our son. Mind you, she had started working on this ‘project’ when
my wife was expecting our child. So,
when her great grandson arrived, the cute sweater was ready from late Lilly
aunty. To me, of all the presents our son had received, this sweater would,
always, remain a treasure. That was her way of saying ‘Honey, I love you’… yes,
through her special way. She was very
old, lived in a bungalow… had the capacity to buy a very expensive sweater or
outfit for our son… Still, she would patiently and lovingly hand-knit a
labour-of-love. She had been doing it for dozens of little-ones, including our
son!
I always see some boys offering to open my
office when I arrive in the morning. Similarly, some boys always stay back and volunteer
to close it… Some offer to drop me home…
What is their motivation? What have they got
to gain from it?
Random acts of kindness are what they are – ‘random’…
straight from the heart… carried out with no strings attached, leave alone for a
reward, name or fame. Every time I ask someone over the phone, “How are you” or
“How is your mom, dad, wife, child, uncle or aunt” and so on, I alone know – in
the heart of my hearts – whether or not I mean what I am saying... whether or not I am really ‘feeling’
for those about whom I am enquiring. If I am, that’s truly a random act of
kindness… Just the way some of us vacate our seats in crowded buses or trains
for needy… An act done straight from the heart will touch God straight!
Last night, I was watching a video about a
little boy in America. His dad was a soldier and was killed in Afghanistan when
this boy was just born. The video was about an incident that taken place one
day, when the boy and his mother walked into a restaurant. The boy had just found
a 20-dollar bill in the parking slot and was excited to buy his favourite video
game with the money… till, inside the restaurant, he sighted a soldier on another table. Remembering his dad, the boy
scribbled a touching note and ‘gifted’ the 20-dollar note to the soldier. “Saying
thank you for your services!” The high-ranking officer was shaken to the core
and, inspired by this sublime gesture, he went about doing his own random acts
of kindness…
Random acts of kindness are quiet acts… just as
Jesus had described, “Let you left hand no know what your right hand gives.”
Do it and leave it. God wants it that way.
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic.: Chetna Shetty
Video: YouTube
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