??

He could be somebody’s grandfather…

This morning was no different from any other morning.. I woke up, rolled around in the bed, slept for a little longer, finally convinced myself to wake up. Got ready, had breakfast, mumbled ‘hi’ ‘hello’ ‘howz life’ ‘going good’ to flat-mates.. and left for work.. thinking about some mundane things, daily trifles. Same old weekday..

But then..

At a traffic signal, there was a wrinkled old man, looking like he hadn’t eaten for days, and he was asking for alms. This isn’t an uncommon occurrence at traffic signals. Yet I can never forget his eyes. I have never seen so much sorrow on a human being’s face. It was just so unfair.. He could have been someone’s grandfather, sitting in his home, resting his frail old frame in his last few years, perhaps with his little grandchildren playing around. But no, he’s not. He is on the street, barely able to walk, his beseeching eyes asking help from strangers.

And in that moment, all the worries of daily life seemed so insignificant… issues at work, broken hearts, weight loss problems.. all of this doesn’t even matter .. people are struggling to live out there while we fret about these things. Sure, we have problems too, life ain’t a party for anybody, yet somehow, looking at their suffering changes my perspective. Makes my problems look tiny.

What can we do about it though? Can we do something about it? These rare moments of compassion.. should we just mute them and go on about our lives like nothing’s wrong? Like we have been doing?

I don’t know what to do, or if I will ever be able to do anything about it. I don’t know if that old man would ever smile again in his life.

There are more questions than answers, but I know one thing.. I can’t mute these feelings and go on living. Maybe there is something I can do. Maybe there’s something we can all do. We can find the answers if we only spared time to ponder over the questions.
Maybe there’s still hope..
Think about it..