bph: Act of Random Kindness

I saw the movie 'Evan Almighty' last night. Many would remember one of the scenes from this movie - a conversation between God and Evan's wife enacted by Morgan Freeman and Lauren Graham.

It is about -

1. standing by each other side by side in pairs (in every relationship - child/parent, student/teacher, friend/friend, partner/partner)

and

2. how life gives us opportunities everytime to create what we have prayed for, but we misinterpret the situations and let the opportunities pass by.

I have always been baffled by how everyone loves to share the good news, the celebrations, the highs with others. But when something not so great is happening in our lives, our first instinct is to hide them. How many of us call friends or family to share our lows? When a low hits our lives, the majority of us tell ourselves that I am strong enough, I will deal with this. In the name of independence, we cut everyone out from our lives. But sadly, we forget that human beings are social animals.

Sharing helps, talking helps. No one can help us solve our problems, but by sharing, we feel light, we feel heard, we feel we can count on someone.

I really hope our generation wakes up and realizes that sharing takes courage! Sharing is not a weakness. It takes immense strength to talk, to be vulnerable. We don't have to pretend that everything is great all the time. That is humanly not possible. There was a reason why the joint family system worked in the olden days in India. In a joint family, there was always someone looking out for us, always someone ready to listen to or just be around.

Another message in the above mentioned movie is about Noah building an ARK.

What is an ARK? - It is just an act of random kindness - I found this so powerful. We keep saying we want to help others, or make a change in the world. But we tend to forget that it all starts from the smallest act of kindness, a small act at home, to our neighbor, a street dog, a co-worker or a stranger. It can be as small as giving a big smile or saying hello to a person when you pass them. I love it when someone smiles at me compared to being ignored.

We always think of the bigger things, but there's a reason for the proverb - take care of the little things, and the bigger things will take care of themselves.

Let's start by showing an ark to ourselves and then to others every single day :)