Live like Sandalwood
Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice. It’s harder to be kind than clever, says Jeff Bezos, founder and the chairman of Amazon.com. He asks, will you be clever at the expenses of others, or will you be kind?
It took me 20 years to
realise the importance of kindness and the meaning of the phrase “Live like sandalwood
and to actually live it!
Dear Toastmaster of the
day, my dear follow and future toastmaster and respected guests, good evening.
The journey began at the
age of 13. I was seriously preparing for my 8th grade final math
exam. Maths being my favourite subject, I was solving the problems with
complete attention and dedication. Suddenly, my mother’s loud shout brought me
back to reality. Apparently, she had been
trying to get my attention for quite some time without succeeding.
Our neighbour, an old woman,
was sick and her temperature had shot up suddenly. There was no one to help her.
We lived in a village, and in those days, there were no call taxis / call autos. My mom wanted me to accompany the old lady to
the doctor. I refused immediately, as I wanted to prepare for my exam.
We had a heated exchange
in kolaveri, and she hit me as well. Being a school teacher, My mom used a
wooden scale to beat me. After 4 or 5
beatings on my legs, it got broken. I
was laughing like a villain in Tamil movies.
My beloved loving sister rushed to my mom. She said, “Here is a new
scale and it won’t break” and gave it to her.
I hated my sister from the bottom of my heart at that time. My mom thought for a moment. She took the scale and beat my sister first
for not empathizing with me. I got a
little relief. But, she continued
beating me with this scale [wooden scale as a Prop].
In the end, mother snatched
away all books and locked them in a bookshelf.
Tears came from eyes like
waterfall. I cursed my mother and bewailed
my fate at being born to such an adamant woman. I compared her to my friends’ mothers;
One of my close friend’s mom woke up at 4.45 am and prepared Boost for my
friend. This guy got up at 5.00 am,
drank Boost and started sleeping at 5.05 am itself. My friend’s mom kept on trying to wake him up
every fifteen minutes. He finally woke
up at 7.00 am and scolded his mom for not waking him up earlier. It happened almost on a daily basis. My close friend name was Durai. He was treated like a “Durai” itself (i.e.,
like a king). Durai’s Mom did whatever she
could to ensure that her son studied,
whereas in my case, I was being stopped from studying. I was dejected,
disgusted and devastated, disappointed.
As all options were
closed, I was compelled to accompany the neighbour to the doctor. I vented my anger on her by maintaining a
surely silence. As I trudged along the muddy
street on my village, I grimaced in pain as the blisters on my beaten knee
swelled. Still seething, I came back from the hospital after two hours, got my
books, and continued my studies. Posterity records that I passed my math exam with
100 per cent marks.
During that beating, my
mother taught me an important lesson: It is more important to be kind than to
be intelligent. I was to live like sandalwood, which spreads its aroma every
time it is scraped. I would always have to be ready to help the needy irrespective
of their age, gender, religion, caste, nationality.
I am not talking about
materialistic help only; it could be a pat on the back for a deserving team
member, or a concerned call to your aged parents or relatives, or extending a
whole-hearted birthday wish to your old security guy, or a little word of
appreciation to your deserving domestic help, or an encouraging word to an
underperforming. It could be a soothing talk to that guy who stumbled on in
table topics. Little gestures make a huge difference!
The second lesson: the sandalwood
sacrifices itself in the process until it becomes nothing in the end. The
Bhagavad-Gita says: “Whatever you have received is here, from this earth, and
you have to leave them behind when you leave the earth.”
Thanks to my dear mother’s
mentoring, I was, I am and I will be dedicating my life to helping those around
me. Today I have become a Life Coach to
make difference in people’s life and bring their best potential.
Friends,
My goal is to fulfil the
admonition: “When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was
smiling. Live your life in such a manner that when you die, you're the one who
is smiling, and everyone around you is crying.”
Over to you TMOD.
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