Tuesday 30 April 2019

LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES TO SERVE

Stephen Dupont, one of Australia’s most renowned and awarded documentary photographer and photojournalists, who has covered wars and catastrophes, having seen and photographed these faces of death, tells us frightening reality and fact in "Tales by Light - Life & Death" that we are pretty good at destroying our planet; we are pretty good at destroying each other; one might hope that we might learn one day not to; but history tells us we never learn."


Simon Lister too in the series "Tales by Light - Children in Need" shows us the dark side of poverty through his camera lens.



As Stephen Dupont says, so is it with us taking birth, again and again, never seemed to learn too. The lesson that we forget each time we are reborn, is not to do harm another again. If at all we cannot do good, please avoid doing harm. This simple lesson will turn our life around. By adopting this value alone, all the rest will take care of itself. Prapanjam will shower all its goodness on us.

To add on to this virtue that assures us of a rich life in all ways, if time permits and you have the finance and resources to help another, take that another step. Step out of your home and look for someone who needs a helping hand, an ear to listen, a blanket to cover himself from the cold of the night, food to appease his hunger or drink for his thirst. Every single person can do his part, in his small way. This is the first step towards doing charity. You do not need an organization to do charity, although working under the wings of one can reach far and wide.


Malaysians are a very charitable lot. Sadly on our rounds to feed the homeless recently, we saw much food thrown away in the rubbish bins, littered around or dumped in numerous places. There are way too many organizations or soup kitchens feeding the poor in the city centre. Noticing this, we had switched to distributing bread and packet drinks which is immediately taken up. These can be kept for later. Some of us have switched to giving cooked food outside of Kuala Lumpur city too where not many NGO feeds.

Life is an experiment. We shall work our way through taking life's lesson in our stride. With the divine looking over our shoulders we shall take larger strides towards serving him and his creation.