One afternoon, a wealthy man was
waiting for the train in a railway station in south India. A poor boy in torn
clothes approached him and begged for some money. He said he was very hungry and
did not get anything to eat on that day. Seeing his pitiable state, the man bought
a packet of lunch from a stall and gave it to the boy. The boy thanked him and
sat on a seat. He opened the packet and started to eat in a hurry. The man was
sure that the boy was really hungry and turned to the pages of a book he was
reading.
Suddenly he noticed that the boy had abruptly
stopped eating and was packing the rest of the meal in a hurry. The man assumed
that the boy was preparing to throw away the rest of the meal into the waste
bin. He rose from his seat and angrily asked the boy why he was not eating the
full meal. The boy was in tears. He told the man that he just remembered his
younger sister who had nothing to eat on that day. In his exhaustion, he had
started the meal forgetting her fate and was sorry for that. He ran with the
packet to his home to share his meal with his hungry sister.
Mother Teresa once said
about her unforgettable experience in a poor family in Calcutta.
One day she learned that a poor Hindu family with several children was starving
for several days. She rushed to the family, carrying in her hands a bag of rice
for the family. The mother of the family thankfully received the bag of rice.
The starving woman then divided the rice in the bag into two halves and went
out with one half of the rice.
When she returned,
Mother Teresa asked her where she had gone. The woman replied that she went to
give a share of the rice to a neighbouring Muslim family which was in a similar
state of poverty and starvation. Mother Teresa was touched by the love and
compassion of the poor lady which made her share her meagre assets with her
starving neighbours. She was happy to see them enjoy the joy of sharing.
Albert Schweitzer
thought and wrote about the "fellowship
of those who bear the mark of pain." Those outside this fellowship
usually have great difficulty in understanding what lies behind the pain.
We should display
three major qualities: Daring, Caring and Sharing. We should have
the courage to practise what we preach and should show care and kindness to
each other, especially to the weak, the sick and the poor. We should be
ready to share our possessions with those in greater need. Sir Winston
Churchill said, "We make a living
by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."
The Bible teaches, "Our love should not be just words and talk; it must be true love,
which shows itself in action....God is love and whoever lives in love lives in
union with God and God lives in union with him."
Love
is a language that can be heard by the deaf, seen by the blind and felt even by
the new-born and the mentally retarded.
We may give without loving; but we
cannot love without giving. Love is giving all we can. Love is like a smile -
neither has any value unless given away. Karl Menninger said, "Love cures people - both the ones who
give it and the ones who receive it." Mother Teresa said, "It is not how much you do, but how much
love you put into what you do that counts."
…………………………………………………………………
© By: Prof. Dr. Babu Philip,
Darsana Academy, Kottayam-686001, Kerala, India ( Former Professor, Cochin
University of Science & Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala,
India), Prof. Mrs. Rajamma Babu, Former Professor, St.
Dominic's College, Kanjirappally, Leo. S. John, St.
Antony's Public School, Anakkal, Kanjirappally and Neil John, Maniparambil, Ooriyakunnath, Kunnumbhagom, Kanjirappally,
Kottayam-686507, Kerala, India.
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