Tag: help others

Be a Volunteer! Every Little Helps!

How would you improve your community?

Become a volunteer!

Be the change yourself, to bring about a change in our society, as the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi in India famously said. 

Help your community. Be part of their most cherished common goals. That should give one a fulfilled life.

You may be a parent, an uncle or an aunt, a caring brother, a teacher, a retired engineer or a scientist, but how much you helped your community should always count in the end.

I have been a volunteer all through my life.

I was just 15 when I volunteered first as a sports organizer in my native village. Served in college as a member of the National Social Service. Conducted various training camps for students who chose journalism as a career. I served as parent volunteer at my son’s school in London. 

I am still a volunteer. I’m proud to serve my community in Chennai, Tamilnadu, India.

‘Every Little Helps’. Helping others is how humanity survives. 

Man is a social animal as said by Aristotle. We find our strength in numbers. Give your big hands, please.

As office-bearers in our society, we serve people. We serve them free. This is a voluntary job which I love to do. 

The year was 2004, the Tsunami struck in Chennai. An Earthquake off the Indian Ocean near an island in Indonesia caused havoc. Over 600 dead. That includes many children.

Without the volunteers’ help, many would have suffered. People took shelter in huge community halls, thanks to timely help from volunteers.

The same was the case in 2015 when it rained in buckets. Volunteers pitched in and saved the community.

Those two huge disasters have shown how people conduct themselves in times of emergency.

Linda Goodman’s Sun Signs (1968) was the first book on astrology to figure on the New York Times bestseller list. She read what was the collective thought in a community and that catapulted her to success.

Dale Carnagey was his original name. But seeing a sell-out crowd for his lecture at Carnegie Hall in 1916, he changed his name to Carnegie, after the steel merchant Andrew Carnegie. Such was the impact a community gathering could have.

Ryan Kaji was only eight when he started a channel on YouTube. His Ryan’s World now has about 35 million subscribers. All he does is do reviews of toys.

Mahatma Gandhi found a purpose in life and a nation of a billion just followed him. 

Have a purpose. The community will follow you. 

Be a volunteer. Be the change. And bring the change. 

Try doing one random act of kindness. Every day!

What advice would you give to your teenage self?

Tell you a short story I read on the internet.

A long time ago, at the beginning of the 20th century, a Scottish farmer was returning home. He heard someone crying for help.

He saw a boy struggling in the water. He was drowning. The farmer quickly found a long branch of a tree and threw it to him. The boy picked up the branch and swam to safety.

The boy was safe, but he couldn’t hold back his tears for a long time. He was shaking. 

The farmer told him to calm down and asked him to come home so that he would offer him some warm clothes.

The boy said no as he was worried his dad back home must be worried and waiting.

He thanked the farmer and left.

And the next day, a carriage came to the farmer’s house.

A well-dressed gentleman jumped out and asked if he was the one who had saved his son. The farmer said, yes he was.

The man asked how much he owed.

The farmer said he did what a normal person should do and, therefore, he owed nothing at all.

The man insisted he should say an amount as his son was so dear to him.

The farmer wasn’t interested and turned to leave.

As the conversation was going on, the farmer’s son appeared and stood surprised at the door.

The gentleman asked if that was his son. The farmer said yes as he was putting his hand out to pat the boy on the head.

The man continued. He said to take the farmer’s son to London and pay for his studies. If he was as noble as his father, then neither he nor the farmer would regret their decision.

Years have gone by.

The farmer’s son graduated from school, a medical school, and soon his name became universally known as the man who discovered penicillin.

He was none other than Alexander Fleming.

The name of the gentleman who took the farmer’s son Fleming to London was Randolph Churchill.

And the man’s son was Winston Churchill, who later became Prime Minister of England.

There were occasions when Winston Churchill recalled saying: “What you do will come back to you.”