MAKING A DIFFERENCE TO ONE STARFISH

 



“If you light a lamp for somebody,

it will also brighten your path.”

Buddha

 

To 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 needy kid around him. That’s exactly how any other person, who wants to help the needy, would feel. It’s an overwhelming feeling; often, it can make us cynical… “What difference would my little act of help make? There are so many needy people out there!”

Yes, there are so many needy kids out there… Our small acts of helping just a kid or two may not solve every kid’s problem; but, it can, certainly, solve the problem of that one kid, who we choose to help…

The man, who chose to pick these two poor kids, reminded me of the old story of starfish…

 




THE STORY OF STARFISH

It was a hot summer-day. A man was walking along a beach. The water had receded as it was low tide at the sea… Thousands of starfish were found lying on the hot bed of the sea… The man bent down, picked a starfish, took a few steps towards the water, and gently hurled the starfish into the sea… He came back, did the same to another starfish… and when that done, he did it with another, and another…

An amused stranger, who was watching this, asked: “What difference does it make? Look, there are thousands of them lying there.”

The man bent down to pick up one more starfish, took a few steps towards the water, gently tossed it into the sea, and said with a smile: ‘It does make a difference to this one, my friend.”



Perhaps, as Buddha said, the reason why we light a lamp for somebody is the brighten our own path… What else could be the reason for a man of ordinary means to reach out with his extraordinary heart?

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic’s: Pixabay

Video: Surf Excel

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