Those little things that can be done

"What I can do, I must do"

These words are attributed to Rippan Kapur, founder of CRY (Child Relief and You)
When I first read the line, the words leapt out at me, my mind seemed to stand still as I let the meaning sink in. Apart from the obvious meaning - that if you can do something good, you must do it, no matter how big it is - there seemed to be something else that I was beginning to realise.

Too often we go through life thinking about us, ourselves and our life. I do not say that is wrong. In fact, it is the prudent thing to do. If your life is not moving the right way, there's no use trying to put someone else's life back on track.

But what we fail to realise is that help need not be something big like putting someone's life back on track. Somehow, our minds assume that people can be helped only in a large-scale manner - that help is good only if we do something big which inconveniences us or causes us pain in some way. Wierdly, the possible degree of trouble involved seems to be a measure of the help offered, And then, that becomes an excuse for not helping.

Nothing could be farther from reality. There many small things we can do, to touch the lives of others. If you look back on your day or week so far, you may probably be able to identify atleast a few things that you could have done, some way in which you could have been nice to someone. Maybe you could have given up your seat in the train. Maybe, you could have taken the trash out in your office, rather than let it sit and stink there. Maybe you could have offered a cab ride to the lady waiting for another cab to show up. Maybe you could have given up your place in the line so an old person could go home sooner.

However, in some strange ways, we seem to have trained our eyes, ears and mind to ignore all such opportunities. Rather than doing what we can do, we spend time convincing ourselves that we may repent having helped the person. So we dont give up our place in the line because we are afraid of being late to work, we dont take out the trash in the office, because we feel then the cleaners will get into the habit of not taking it out regularly, and we dont give up our seats in trains, because we are afraid of getting exhausted by the time we reach home or work.

Thats why the words seemed to stir something in me; they made me realise, it doesnt matter what you can do, or how small it is, but its alright to just do it, if you think it will make someone else feel better. I have been lucky to have met many such people, who have made me feel happier by their innumberable small actions. They have inspired me to behave in the same way. But it would be a much better world if such behavior were the rule, not the exception.