Sharing is Living...

When returning home late one night, I was gifted the chance to witness a random act of kindness.

I sat by the window, waiting for the horn to signal departure, when a lady got on the train and sat in the seat facing my own.

She had three bulky bags with her and in the palm of one hand was a small newspaper bundle with soaked spots of grease.

Her weariness was evident in the sigh she let escape as she plonked down on the seat before me. We smiled at each other, sharing both our exhaustion and the relief of knowing we were finally
headed home.

Just as she arranged her bags on the seat next to her, and unfolded the creased newspaper packet, a little boy came in begging for alms. Knowing she had something ready to offer, he went
up to her and tapped her knee. She looked at him and for a fraction of a second her tired eyes flashed with annoyance before she set her lips in a faint smile and broke her vada-pav in two.

The little boy took the half she offered him and got off the train which had just begun to pull out of the station.

Being aware of the fact that I was watching her intently, she looked at me again and smiled. “At least, I can enjoy half of it in peace,” she said.

The depth of her words never left me. Indeed, if you have known hunger or thirst you will recognise it in another living being. This is the very wisdom which compels the homeless on our streets to share their food with the animals who live beside them.

Without a roof over their head, they allow stray dogs to snuggle up beside them on their chadars on cold winter nights. It makes our stomachs fuller, our sleep sweeter, and ignites a warming flame in our hearts because we know from experience that a little discomfort shared is better than nothing shared at all.

Through the transcendent laws which govern such acts, pain shared somehow decreases while joy shared multiplies. The lady probably received more blessings than the little boy who was gifted a meal. For while he ventured to ask, she exercised benevolence with the little she had.

The earth isn’t a commodity, nor is it an inheritance we can squander. It is our home, and meant to be shared with generations to come. Although we have been gifted limited resources, we are also blessed with the capacity to be boundless in our acts of giving.

To ensure we have a future worth sharing, we must share what we have today.

Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You