In today’s materialistic world where everybody is bowing down in front of a luxurious life with all comforts, do you feel you are any different? When was the last time that you tried to look beyond the teary eyes of a woman who has no money to feed her child? Does your heart still break into shards when you see a child working outside in the freezing cold just so that his family does not have to starve that night? Did your heart tell you to stand up against receiving something that you did not deserve? Before buying luxurious phones and branded clothes, did the face of that hungry child flash in your mind? For once, try to drown yourself in those pale eyes – you will find an abyss of sorrow and shattered dreams even before they they took shape!

The question is, how long are we going to wear that murderous silence of helplessness on our faces? When will the time come when we listen to our hearts and stand up against injustice and wrongdoing? All our life, we hold to petty things, walking in the crowd with no courage to rebel against wrongdoing. Take a look at the young child collecting rags from the putrid litter and then think – what makes you better than him that you have all the luxuries, and he does not even have enough clothes to cover his lean body etched with the indelible ink of poverty? We quote destiny and misfortune as our excuse, but dear friend, remember that you could have been a resident of the same world of utter darkness!

Spare a moment of thought for the young girl from a destitute family, who was married off to an old man by the parents just for some amount of money. What about her dreams, her aspirations to break free from the unending shackles of dependence and vulnerability? Will she ever be able to dream again now that she is not a human but a material to be exploited by animalistic and dismal dark shadows? Will you try to wipe her tears when you know that those tears are going to stain you as well, and make you “impure” in the eyes of the society?

All of us are running in a blind race, working day and night with an objective of not being left behind, but think about those unfortunate people who have not even had their start! Take a day out of your busy schedule and go to find about the utterly tough life that people have to live each day to earn two square meals a day. When we have received so much, are we not obliged to give it back to our less fortunate brothers and sisters still waiting for our helping hand? It is never too early to begin! We could start by taking up a small step. During the next vacation, when we go back home, we could find some children from the slums who are not able to get education because of their financial situation. By teaching them every day, we can light up the lamp of education in their lives. We will then feel the freedom in our heart, rejuvenating us! It is never too late to begin! Let us set ablaze our selfish desires and use those ashes to mould our new self.

“Feed your slumber to the hounds, so that you do not reek with the stench of indifference!
Trample on the tainted mask of reticence and give your unchained conscience a call.”

 

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