In India, it’s a very common sight to see beggars on traffic signals. A few days back, when I stopped at a signal, I saw an old beggar few metres ahead of my car. The driver of one of the vehicles gave that beggar a small bunch of bananas. He gratefully accepted them and walked across to the pavement. I saw another beggar, who was also very old, sitting over there. This first person sat next to the second one, shared his bananas with him and they both began eating. I could see an element of satisfaction in their faces.
Being so poor, he could have saved a few bananas for his next meal…why did he share?
I often see my wife giving some fruit or food to the housekeeping staff in my society when they come to clean the trash. After she gives them, she has a sense of satisfaction and says “they were so happy”. Whenever my son is eating something likes, he gives me a piece of it and says “eat”. When I eat and say it was nice, I can see a smile on his face.
As part of being socially responsible, Vikram Dhar, an internationally acclaimed NLP trainer, lets some students attend his sessions for nominal fee so they can help others who need it.
In Krishvi Gavakshi, the society where I live in Bengaluru, when any resident needs help (taking a print out/ share a ride to some place/any question they have or anything else) they would simply put it on the residents group in WhatsApp and the other residents come forward to help, whether they know the person seeking help or not. And they do it expecting nothing in return. Some even go an extra mile to help.
Why would someone do it? Here’s my rationale to it.
Human beings are social animals. We are wired to feel good when we see someone happy. That’s why when we see someone smile, inadvertently we smile. That is also the reason why we help others. No wonder our elders always said that happiness multiplies when it is shared – you give it in grams and you’ll get it back in tons. Once my friend Pradyuman said “the joy that you get when you share can only be felt and not explained”. It’s so very true.
What do you think?
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