On the first page of my textbooks there's a quote by Mahatma Gandhi, which gave me a way to understand myself.
He says that when we are feeling sad , we think of the poorest, most fragile and weak person we have ever seen and analyze ourselves in his context. We would see that our lives have so much more brightness and joy.
It's taken a considerable amount of time to understand the importance of that person.
In India, there are many old men and women on the roads, in slums and living very meager, far below poverty line lives. Seniors and orphans are almost neglected in dilapidated nursing homes and orphanages.
I wanted to offer my help to these people in any way possible, to ease the struggle that was their life. Quite simply I'd already found that I loved seeing a persons face light up with joy because of something I did for them. I liked making people happy.
I joined the Interact Club in DPS, a subsidiary organization of the Rotary Club, with this intention, and I gave my all to its cause. Their main goal was to enrich the lives of others.
Becoming president of the Interact Club, made it easier for me to inspire my fellow 'Interacters'.
My first decision was that we could help the teachers of the disadvantaged children in my school by providing some sort of teaching aids. We made it easier to teach them the local languages and even English by making charts and posters with the letters, simple words and their drawings and ways to pronounce words.
Kids are always fun to talk to, whatever their economic conditions. Most are energetic and fun and I love being with them. Even my Interact Club comrades shared this feeling.
We left them feeling that we had actually touched lives in a very personal way since we'd even interacted with their parents to find out how we could help them.
Their perceptible joy was gratifying.
Diwali in India is the festival of lights, when we light tiny lamps of clay called diyas. An organization that helped orphans near my school was rather desperate for resources, in both cash and in kind. We came up with the idea to make 'diyas' for sale, since different people could handle different steps of manufacturing them. Initially we were ridiculed for thinking that we could make a difference with something so small.
People always come to see your point of view if you stick to it long enough. We stuck to our plan and people eventually warmed up to our idea. School students gladly contributed their pocket money to our cause by buying diyas. What I remember vividly, was the way the entire student body took up responsibility and rose as a united group to contribute. The entire collection was donated to the orphanage.
Smiles truly make the world go around.
I know now from my stint in the interact club and my experiences that helping people gives me a sense of completion, that I'm making a difference in the world. Its something I will never stop doing. Since happier people make a happier world.
I've met several men like those Gandhiji describes, and I've never left them until I've made them smile, either by providing money or some source of comfort. My aim is to make sure that any whom I meet, don't stay the way Gandhiji described them.
I think that's what he wanted us to do, to change such peoples lives for the better.
(I tried pretty hard to make it sound interesting and I'd appreciate any comments on it)
He says that when we are feeling sad , we think of the poorest, most fragile and weak person we have ever seen and analyze ourselves in his context. We would see that our lives have so much more brightness and joy.
It's taken a considerable amount of time to understand the importance of that person.
In India, there are many old men and women on the roads, in slums and living very meager, far below poverty line lives. Seniors and orphans are almost neglected in dilapidated nursing homes and orphanages.
I wanted to offer my help to these people in any way possible, to ease the struggle that was their life. Quite simply I'd already found that I loved seeing a persons face light up with joy because of something I did for them. I liked making people happy.
I joined the Interact Club in DPS, a subsidiary organization of the Rotary Club, with this intention, and I gave my all to its cause. Their main goal was to enrich the lives of others.
Becoming president of the Interact Club, made it easier for me to inspire my fellow 'Interacters'.
My first decision was that we could help the teachers of the disadvantaged children in my school by providing some sort of teaching aids. We made it easier to teach them the local languages and even English by making charts and posters with the letters, simple words and their drawings and ways to pronounce words.
Kids are always fun to talk to, whatever their economic conditions. Most are energetic and fun and I love being with them. Even my Interact Club comrades shared this feeling.
We left them feeling that we had actually touched lives in a very personal way since we'd even interacted with their parents to find out how we could help them.
Their perceptible joy was gratifying.
Diwali in India is the festival of lights, when we light tiny lamps of clay called diyas. An organization that helped orphans near my school was rather desperate for resources, in both cash and in kind. We came up with the idea to make 'diyas' for sale, since different people could handle different steps of manufacturing them. Initially we were ridiculed for thinking that we could make a difference with something so small.
People always come to see your point of view if you stick to it long enough. We stuck to our plan and people eventually warmed up to our idea. School students gladly contributed their pocket money to our cause by buying diyas. What I remember vividly, was the way the entire student body took up responsibility and rose as a united group to contribute. The entire collection was donated to the orphanage.
Smiles truly make the world go around.
I know now from my stint in the interact club and my experiences that helping people gives me a sense of completion, that I'm making a difference in the world. Its something I will never stop doing. Since happier people make a happier world.
I've met several men like those Gandhiji describes, and I've never left them until I've made them smile, either by providing money or some source of comfort. My aim is to make sure that any whom I meet, don't stay the way Gandhiji described them.
I think that's what he wanted us to do, to change such peoples lives for the better.
(I tried pretty hard to make it sound interesting and I'd appreciate any comments on it)