sharing, caring and giving

among the yesteryears memories i had as a small child was, tailing behind my parents around villages and the small town where my parents lived to send some cash contribution, used clothes and foods to the needy. my parents had quite good careers which could have allowed them to have a better house, bigger cars etc, yet they choose to live a very moderate life. Some dubbed them as s-t-i-n-g-y. as a small child, i sometimes wondered why my dad drove an old car, while my friend’s dad who had the same profession drove a newer and bigger one. i found it hard to believe mom didn’t have enough to make our house looked fancier when other moms can despite the fact they were just full time housewives. Dad especially always makes qualm about paying out for what he calls beyond necessities, but never grumbles when it comes to spending for the unfortunates. only after more than twenty years, i come to understand how my parents had laid down the greatest lesson of how joy comes through sharing, caring and giving.

no doubt relocation, resettling and readjustment in a new unfamiliar territory can sometimes be a daunting and devastating experience. get alive! start anew! a fresh look at a new horizon can bring us to enlightening and meaningful life adventures we wouldn’t encounter without leaving our familiar zone.

Being abroad, we are privileged to see how life is actually greener on our side. many stricken and less fortunate people still survive only on meagre income whilst doing multiple jobs and yet, they never free themselves from the chain of poverty. young, educated and eager people, take up menial jobs just to make sure they can give life to their aging parents, siblings and their own families. Women, girls, children as well as the elderly are either trapped in endless destitution, and abandoned. single mothers works long hours, having to leave their off-springs far in their provinces, just to care for others babies in order to feed theirs. While in many other part of the world people are already benefiting the latest of cutting age technology, many parents still know not what they can provide for their young ones. with no foods as the primary survival need to help them survive, let alone education. In natural disaster prone countries, people are displaced every time natural catastrophe strikes and not few of them lost their sole breadwinners. undernourished children, orphans, sick and medically deprived people, the handicapped, and drifted single parents. life to many of them has fallen apart.

while counting our blessing, perhaps it would be a life-changing experience if only we could look around us, empathize and extend some supports and contributions in any way we could to these unlucky ones. Spread our love and have the joy of sharing, caring and giving. it might be impossible for us to alter the life of everyone of them, but it is possible for us to at least change the life of them, one at a time.