5:18 AM
Nevin
Failure is NOT neccessarily the inablity to act. It is when you CAN, and still you DON'T!
Last Saturday at church I happened to see this small girl, all alone, shabby and desperatley needing a bath. Quite possibly the kid of a nomad. She was looking at this rich lady with pearl necklace and no lack of 'talcum'with keen eyes. Strangely the eyes were not on the 'expensive' elements of the lady but on the 5 candles she had in her hand.
I had candles with me. And I so badly wanted to give it to her. But I didn't. Some might argue it was because she was poor and belonged to the lower strata of the society. I disagree. I would've done the very same had she been Wordsworth's Lucy.
Infact theres always this dilemma one has to go through. My badly wanting to give her and my NOT giving her! She was a kid afterall. Innocent and pure. SO why didn't I just walk to her, smile and hand over the candles. I for sure know that the ONE up there would've been more pleased that way .I can only come up with one answer. Society! And the sad aspects of being a member of it.
The truth is I would've given the candles had no one been there around us.I somehow couldn't get myself to do that with everyone around. The lady knew perfectly that she was being watched. She could've easily done what I so wanted to do. But she didn't.And the sad truth is she probably would've done it had she been 'a pretty, little, fair girl in her polka dotted robe. If I had gone over with the candles I would've definitely offended the lady and the crowd around her.Who the hell was I to go over to this poor girl and give her what she so badly wanted, amidst all the grown ups.
Come to think of it, this has happened before. Many times have I sworn to myself that i will help the poor somehow. Yes i have occassioanly helped out the tramp with some money but to be frank thats merely 'good riddance' than genuine care. Last day, at the photostat shop this lady amidst all her hectic work did the spiral binding for my sake. Before I could go thank her, she had left for another work. and i thought " well its her job anyway" and walked off.
And then slowly it all started making sense. Hate the society. Loathe. Despise! But understand one thing. WE make it! Going back to the situation, the lady with the pearls could've possibly went through the same dilemma as i did. Not just the lady, perhaps the whole crowd. One brave step could've changed the day for the kid. One smile. One pat. Small things do matter. And sometimes more than the huge things.
Thats where you have to salute extra-ordinary people like Mother Teresa , Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther king. They might not have made an LHC! But they did ordinary things that revolutionized human lives! Mother saw God in the streets of Calcutta ! Gandhiji believed in ahimsa. Martin Luther King had a dream! And most importantly they all DID something about it. When Tolstoy said that the blood of swine is always there in man, he never implied that it should come out. A bunch of young boys and girls got together with a good intention once and today they are Making A difference to the lives of many a children. I really don't wanna write a conclusion. Let it remain the way it is. One year from now I [ and hopefully everyone who reads this] WILL read this again and think to myself[himself/herself] " ok! atleast i did make an effort!" ..
