By Saloni Mathur:
This winter, I was persuaded by my friend to volunteer for an organization which works to improve the lives of HIV positive children. After volunteering there for a month, I realized how powerful this concept of humanity is and this is what has today inspired me to express my opinions that how through practicing humanity, one can contribute in brining social solidarity and help in changing the lives of people.
But what is humanity? Well, the most ideal answer to this question is ‘to be human’. If every one of us understands the true meaning of this answer, then we would not need anything to guide us in practicing humanity. Humanity is one such religion which is available to all, the human species of this world, which is devoid of any discrimination. It does not give any name to god. It says that god lies within each of us and serving that god is humanity. Being a human is something worthwhile, and to bring out that human from us is humanity. Considering the people next to you as a human is humanity. If our actions help to improve the life or even a day of a sufferer, that action is humanity. It is not necessary to exercise humanity; one’s actions need to be huge, for instance, giving donations, giving money to beggars, distributing old clothes. Even small acts in our day to day life can help to serve humanity. Sitting and listening (not hearing) to the problems of others is humanity, greeting people with smile and even being happy is humanity, spreading happiness in the society is humanity. I cannot stop myself from mentioning about an organization, which I feel is worth mentioning, something less people are aware about. CLOWN WITHOUT BORDERS is an organization which goes to the places where life is full of miseries like to places where a natural disaster has occurred. It goes to such places and performs such acts to convey that life, even though full of miseries, has not ended. They make them forget about their sufferings by just spending time with them, by listening and sharing their grief and making them see and realize that humanity still exists. This is just one example. Each and every organization, be it a school, an NGO, a forum like this, impacting the lives of people in a positive way, are all such examples of serving humanity for they are contributing in making this society a better place to live in.
But what I see every day compelled me into perceiving the fading away of this concept? Why do not the sufferings of one affect the heart of other? We have become cold-hearted and the reason for this cold-heartedness is that we have shut our eyes of our heart and mind. We have gained immunity from the sufferings of others because of two main reasons. One, we are surrounded by them in every part of our lives. We see them every day in the same condition so it has become a habit of our lives. What we see is not what we perceive. Second, those who even try impact the society by small acts are discouraged by the others who think that the society cannot be changed. It is vicious circle and so deep-rooted that any attempt so made would not impact the life of any. And so these people think that their attempts would give them failure and consequently, they fall under the category of ‘immunized people’. Self-centeredness is another reason for loss of faith in humanity.
Serving human beings selflessly is matter of courage. Courage to listen to the voice of our conscience, which is never wrong in commanding to help others, which is never wrong in motivating us that being human is all about being compassionate towards other, being altruistic and empathetic. It is all a matter of how much we abide by our values. How much closer we get to the Almighty by sharing and caring for others and fulfilling the purpose of being a human.