Humanity for its own good!

I was at the Railway station to meet some of my relatives when this ‘incident’ happened. I did not think then that this would have an impact on me; here I am – stitching together this worthless garland of words a fortnight after this incident happened. As I recollect that moment – I remember that I was watching as if I was looking at some other species that was undergoing a surgery sans anesthetics.

On that day, while I was waiting at the end of a rather long and windy queue to reach the ticket counter, I saw a man doddering possibly due to old age and sickness. I remember now that he was rather disoriented and was growing restless by the minute. There was quite a queue on that day and we were all pushing and shoving at each other. Out of the blue came a shriek; the old man with his stuffy bag started shaking like a rattler. I first thought that it was somehow a decoy, a ploy to cut through the line...probably most of us thought the same way. So much for unity in diversity!

For a couple of seconds pandemonium reigned and we all didn’t or rather couldn’t comprehend what was happening. The old man now looked like a wraith; he was a ghost of himself and was shaking all over. We realized that he was having an epileptic seizure. After this realization dawned on us, any decent man would have expected us to help that sick man. We were all like stunted stumps of a tamarind tree, rooted to our spots…not wanting to lose our places in the line, while a man was trying his best not to lose his life. When I think about this, I must accept that I feel a deep sense of shame – how could I, an educated guy by many standards not come forward to help a man in need? To be frank – the logical side of my brain was afraid to help him because of what, I do not know. While my heart wanted to reach out to him, my brain was commanding me not to even touch him. I saw a small child, he would have been all of 13 or 14 years old; this kid came running from nowhere, started holding the old man’s hand and was trying to calm him down. I think this kid galvanized me into action…trying hard to get over my shame, me and a couple of guys around me rushed the old man to the hospital. Till date, I do not know whether that man survived or who that kid was. All I remember is that, we were not able to trace that kid after all the commotion.

Now, the issue is – why do we have this ME FIRST mentality? I think more than anybody else, I am bound to answer this question. What would have been my reaction if that old man had been my Dad? What was I thinking at that time? Was I thinking at all? As I tried to answer these questions, I first started blaming the so called ‘system’. My first argument was, why bother? If that guy had lost his life, then I would have to answer the Police’s queries and such crap reasons. Then I realized it’s not the system, but I – very much part of the system who is to blame. That little unknown kid helped me realize that the most important thing in life is life itself; not career, not money, not position and not many things that we are supposed to obtain over our life times. I just realized that the lever that turns humanity is humanity itself; the quality to help others in need.

We all have been hypocrites at various stages of our life. I could have chosen not to publish this on my blog…what pushed me is the magnitude of the realization that kid brought within me. For this time, I can say, I am not a hypocrite!

Like Swami Vivekananda said, “Money does not pay, nor name; fame does not pay, nor learning. It is love that pays; it is character that cleaves its way through adamantine walls of difficulties”