Over the last few days, the dominant news items in India was the flood situation in Kerala and some parts of the West Coast of South India. It is one of the most devastating natural calamities that I ever saw. The damage caused in terms of life and money was unprecedented.
During this crisis hour, some poor fishermen helped by using their boats to ferry people to safer locations. They didn’t do it for any material gain. I’ve also seen many other volunteers and volunteer organisations come forward and do their bit to support the local government in the rescue and relief operations.
One such act of humanity happened in the society (Krishvi Gavakshi) where I live in Bengaluru. Some of my neighbours (Krishna, Senthil, Mohan, Murali, Praveen, Rahul & Manoj) came together and began collecting stuff needed for relief. The residents chipped in to support. When they collected enough, they themselves went ahead to the impacted areas and handed them to the people who needed them. I spoke to one of the members of the group to understand the reason behind them taking this initiative. He said that, as a group, they felt it is their responsibility to help the fellow citizens in the hour of need. Mind you, all those who are impacted by this calamity are strangers to them.
That is when I remembered great personalities like Kailash Satyarthi and Mother Teresa. Their deeds are similar but on a much larger scale.
Some time back, I was viewing a video of Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev (popularly known as Sadhguru). In this video, he says that each one of us is responsible for whatever is happening in this universe. According to him, responsibility is unfortunately viewed either from an action point or from a blame point but there is a much deeper meaning attached to it. It simply means your ability to respond. I couldn’t understand it then but I think I have a better understanding of it now.
We all have our family – spouse, children, parents and siblings. Your family is your responsibility – whether you are near them or far away from them, whether you are alive or otherwise. There’s a multi billion dollar insurance industry flourishing on this premise. Say, when you are away, your child has an exam. You may or may not be able to help your kid in the preparation but still you keep inquiring about how the preparations are or how the kid fared in the exam. Here, you can neither help your child in any way nor can you be held accountable for the outcome. But still you feel it is your responsibility.
The same way, if you feel you are part of the residential society where you live, you will feel responsible for everything that happens in that society – whether you act or not is your choice. The same way you are part of an area, a city, a State, a country and the world. It does not mean that you take the burden of the whole universe upon your shoulders and sulk. Remember, the work done by some of the great human beings like Kailash and Mother Teresa is spread way beyond their own homes and societies. If the volunteer organisations, countless volunteers, fishermen and my neighbours felt it is not their responsibility then the government alone would not be able to execute this massive relief operation.
When we assume the responsibility of everything that is happening, we will be in a much better shape to contribute and make the world a better place.
As always, please feel free to share your comments and thoughts.
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