Gerald D'Cunha

  “If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path.” Buddha   T o help someone who is needy, we need a heart that contains empathy. And such a heart, normally, wants to stay anonymous. The moment the heart feels the need to broadcast about the help just done, the help ceases to be a genuine act of giving. I know of this middle-aged man, who, always, pays the school/college fees of two/three needy students, every year. He has been doing it for years, and quietly. As Jesus said, this Good Samaritan gives with his right hand without his left hand coming to know about it… This morning, the gentleman reached out to two needy college students by paying their full year’s fees. Not a soul, other than he and me, came to know about it… Why do we do such quiet acts of kindness towards the needy? This man is an ordinary man with an extraordinary heart. He knows, that he cannot solve the poverty of this world… that he cannot reach out to each and every nee...

  “We must adjust to changing times, and still hold steadfast to unchanging principles.” Jimmy Carter   P urpose in life keeps us productive, useful… Should I say ‘Youthful’, too? We just have to look at former American President Jimmy Carter’s life and legacy… He passed away, at 100, just two weeks ago. Barring a couple of years before that century-long life, he lived with a clear purpose through ‘Habitat for Humanity’, in which, he and his wife Rosalynn had involved immediately after his four-year-term was over as 39 th   President of America. Leading from the front, for close to forty-five years, since then, the Carters inspired countless volunteers to build thousands of affordable houses, both, inside and outside America… President Carter, through these years, survived brain cancer, a hip surgery, multiple stiches around his wounded eye and many other challenges. What has been endearing was the childlike enthusiasm and steadfast faith he and his wife exud...

“Service to others is the rent you pay  for your room here on earth.” Muhammad Ali H ow do we define the word ‘Legacy’? I think, a simple definition can be: “Everything good that we leave behind when we die.”  Lots of wealth and property that we leave behind for charity is definitely our Legacy. But, then, not many of us are in a position to do that. The noble deeds  we do when we are alive -  our selfless service to society – is surely counted as our Legacy. I, often, think about my relentless blogging, publications and other work towards young kids and quietly tell myself, “Hey, that will be your Legacy.” Feels good? Oh, yes… It does. I am a human after all, you see… Even in our so-called ‘noble, selfless deeds’, we do conceal some amount of our selfishness… Well, at least, I do, Sir. And, be that as it may… I would like to mention here a very thoughtful, noble and progressive deed my friend Hitesh Rupani and his family chose to do, two days ago, when ...

  “Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” Mark Twain   I have come across two kinds of balloon sellers. The first kind are men with little babies in their  hands. This kind would keep pestering you to buy a balloon or two from them crying, “Saab, bachha ne khana nahin kaya.” Invariably, we would find this kind when our family is just walking out of a restaurant after dinner… It's a disturbing sight… Your family has had a sumptuous dinner, and here is the balloon seller weeping, that his little one is going to sleep hungry at night. “He is a habitual beggar; ignore him,” one side of me prompts me. But, then, I pull out a note of twenty or fifty, give him and walk away for my own guilt-free heart. The second kind are mostly little kids – around the age of 10 to 12 or something like that. I have met them selling balloons, key chains, tissue papers etc., and, yes, mostly while coming out of a mall, an ice-cream parlor or a restaur...

  “There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.” John Holmes   S unil, who has been printing all our books (for over two decades), is deeply involved with many religious and charity works. They include seva relating to Shirdi pilgrimage, reaching out to poor village kids in schools of interior Maharashtra, serving food on Thursdays at the local Sai mandir or during Ganesh festivities, and so on. Being a printer, he, also, volunteers to do, free of cost, most of the work relating banners, souvenirs and certificates. “This is within my reach, and it gives me a lot of peace,” he says. But, Sunil gets annoyed when people around him start posting pictures and videos of such charity work on social media. “I tell them not to make any publicity or show of any seva that we do,” he says, “but, many of them don’t listen.” “Let your left hand not know what your right hand gives,” Jesus had advised. But, that advice seems outdated. Peo...

“As we work to create light for others, we naturally light our own way.” Mary Anne Radmacher A fter her fall in mid-2021, my Mom’s health began to sink. A year ago, just after her 87 th birthday, we thought, she wouldn’t make it. That was the time, I started putting together a book about her. I did not have to think hard for the title… I named the book – ‘The Good Shepherd & Her Lost Sheep’. In one of His parables, Jesus tells about a shepherd. This shepherd has hundred sheep and loses one of them... He leaves all the ninety-nine and goes looking for the one which is lost… When he finds the lost sheep, he rejoices, crying – ‘I found my lost sheep’… Our Mom had five sons, and each one of them was ‘lost’ at one time or the other, and in one way or the other. Our Mom was our good shepherd… She had to go looking for each of her ‘lost sheep’… and, like the good shepherd in Jesus’ parable, our Mom’s joy knew no bounds! In the first section of this book, I shared many stories...

“Because, that’s what kindness is. It’s not doing something for someone else because they can’t; but, because, you can.” Andrew Iskander M any years ago, when Mother Teresa was alive, a famous personality had made a statement, whereby, he called her ‘the most selfish person on earth’! It was several years ago, and social media was not yet born. So, the reactions to this ‘provocative’ and ‘blasphemous’ statement appeared on some sections of the print media and, finally, everybody forgot about it… Mother Teresa’s work continues as usual with least noise… and, I do not know what happened to the ‘famous personality’ who had stirred the hornet’s nest… But, ever since I heard it first, one thing keeps happening inside my heart, whenever some of my admirers praise me for my ‘selfless work’. Today, early in the morning, Sudha, one such soul, sent this message from Dubai: “Hello Sir, how are you? I was watching ‘Kindness Dairies’ on Netflix.  It connected m...

“What is a hero without love for mankind.” Doris Lessing F rankly, I wasn’t feeling motivated at all to write, today. The last thing I wanted to write was one more gloomy post. I have been extremely sad and angry, last few days, on seeing how heartless some of us could be – even during times like these… ignorance, hatred, poison! Just as I was feeling hopeless, came this very, very inspiring story from England… The story of Captain Tom Moore, a veteran war-hero, who served in Burma and India during the World War 2… And, what a story that was! I thank my friend Reshma, who lives in London, for reigniting hope in my soul, by sending this story, just a while ago… The story of Captain Tom Moore – which, as his family says, is no longer their story, but a ‘global story’ - goes like this… Some weeks ago, the war veteran made a small private resolve… that, before completing his 100 th birthday by this April end, he would complete 100 laps, ...