December 24, 2014

Dear reader, as we took giant steps toward scientific achievements, one of the most suffered factors is humanitarian. We fail to perform a few of our fundamental duties being social animal, bringing disparity in social life. Somehow we forgot the fundamentals that brought us peace and prosperity; success and achievements. As we marched with mighty speed toward the space age, we started to nose dive in personal as well as social life, going back to Stone Age.

One of the nose dived attitude is the way we cooperate with each other in the modern society. Every passing day we are reaching new low disconnecting and disregarding from one another. We have isolated so much that many unimaginary crimes have entered our daily life, because these criminals know for sure that no one comes to the rescue. How can we fix this nose dive and cruise back to normalcy again? From where to learn a lesson? Then suddenly I remembered this candle light. I requested the candles, to pass on this social message to everyone in the society. And the bright candles readily agreed.

Kindly do this simple exercise in your home today. Possibly in front of your children and other family members. Let us convert our room, a classroom for 10 minutes for this excellent learning about the cooperation. Take a few candles with you and a match box. Close all the windows and doors of the room and make it dark. Now light any one candle and place it on the table. What you observe now is the room is luminous and you can see your shadow (darkness). Now light one more candle from the first candle. The room is more luminous and your shadow is little smaller (less darkness) than the previous situation. As we add on lighting candles, the room becomes more and more luminous and at one stage your shadow (darkness) will disappear.

This is what happens in society when we meet in one another’s need. Most of the unpleasant scenarios of the society like poverty, illiteracy, crime, social injustice etc disappear like the disappearance of the darkness in the room when we keep on adding more candles.

Having said that a candle itself can’t get rid from its own shadow at its base, but some other candle can do it. Likewise there are many areas in life also in which without others help it is difficult to survive and prosper in life.

What we need to observe here is the first candle. You can see, it too burns giving the same amount of brightness as in the beginning even after passing the light to many other candles. It did not lose its power / luminosity by igniting other candles. Not only that before it goes down flaming off completely, it imparts maximum light possible one last time at the final stage and flames off.

Similarly when we help each other and meet in one another’s need, we lose nothing. When we help a person to come out of his difficult situation, we in tern brighten many lives linked with the person. And when that person / family stands on their own one day and when they continue that chain of cooperation by helping someone what we can witness is entire society gets benefited. You can see a lot of smiling faces around.

In this modern world we often hear advices telling us not to help others, entirely the opposite way when we were little kids. Many people used to stand beside those, are in trouble. Now the situation has reversed. Now a day the trend of non-cooperation is very common for many reasons, we hesitate to help. May be due to one or two or a few unpleasant situations and wrong persons. But that doesn’t mean that we have to view every situation or person from the same angle generalizing the issue. It may not be correct. Whatever help we can render to others we need to do, so that when we need others one day the help will come without haste.

One more observation may be derived from those burning candle is that they not only light others, but light its own way and surrounding also. Likewise we are the first one to receive the happiness when we extend our helping hand to others. So the cooperation is always two way traffic. When we help others, say tangibly, in return we get the emotional happiness and satisfaction of reaching someone in need. This is unique type of joy. How we feel happy and satisfied when someone comes to our rescue when in trouble? Both persons feel that joy. Be a proud owner of that joy by helping someone whenever possible.

As all of us know that, this is what daijiworld is doing successfully today and from many more years, through their philanthropic activities rising above all the divisions in the society reaching everyone on the way; only need has been considered while reaching them and brightening many lives. Those contributing also just look at the humanity aspect of the request. Let us carry forward this noble act and the candle light, in our individual life also so that we are blessed on the way.

There are many areas in which we can reach a needy person. It need not be tangible support alone. It is just one of such necessities. I have witnessed that as much a person needs tangible support, many are there those are in need of emotional support. And in most of the cases, this situation is self made, acquired by isolating and dissociating from mainstream. But we should not magnify those things, and help them come back and rejoice again .Remember that we are all product of love and cooperation basically. I have witnessed many people saying that they are self made. When we are living in the society saying so may not be correct. Many a times we have received help and that propelled our lives. We should be enough humble to admit that.

There are many good people around us willing to help without any second thought. Many of them don’t know how to reach needy even though they are willing. Let me explain you through a small example how can we reach people in need. One of our friends, who came back to gulf after vacation from India, brought something wrapped in a Times Of India English news paper. When we about to throw it, I saw a advertise in it, requesting monetary help for a child suffering from blood cancer with contact details. Before I could complete the sentence every one understood what I suppose to request them and were ready to contribute and a sufficiently good amount of money generated in minutes. I saw everyone’s face that moment and I could see that joy of helping that innocent child. After that also many a times we repeated that act without knowing whom we are reaching. Many a times when we went through difficult moments and came out easily, we attributed it to that good act we all were doing.

I have given just a small example to explain how many ways we can reach out those are in need in micro level, As I said already we are all are the products of love and cooperation. Try to reach out those are in need, to pay back to the society in similar ways. Kindly look back from where we came, how much help we may have received on this journey, knowingly or unknowingly. That explains what should be our responsibility.

I promised the first candle before it could went off completely that I will carry forward its light and the message to the society, this Christmas. Hope and wish, everyone else will do the same. When we celebrate Christmas this year and welcome New Year soon after that, we will make this point as our New Year resolution, that we will re-establish the human connectivity cooperating with each other and bring peace and prosperity into each others life. Especially so in the beautiful city of Mangalore which is burning on daily basis due to religious tension and non cooperation.

Happy Christmas and a prosperous new year 2015 to all the readers and their families, and everyone around.