WHEN WILL PEOPLE START CARING?

 

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

                                                                                   

A tired young reader being covered by a caring parent/Credit/Min An

The mere fact that you are hungry, does not mean that you stand in the way of other people. If, everyone must eat from the same table, do not be an obstacle to people waiting behind you. When you are in front of the line, or running a certain operation on a resource that everyone depends on, you need to make leadership decisions. You need to think like a leader. Think about the needs of other people. Think about their urgency. That resource must be very important them given the fact that, they have curved out time to wait on the line. Therefore, own the responsibility of being in front. And act like someone with wisdom. Know, which decisions to make, and which one to avoid based on the situation at hand. The resource is important to all of you. You all have the same needs for the resource.

So, how do you act, when you are in front of the line, and everyone else is behind you? Do you become an obstacle to everyone else to access the resource, or do you start cheating? Standing in front of the line, is similar to having some form of power. When you have power, you need to act responsibly. In the event that you abuse that power, a lot of people suffer. That is exactly what happens, when you are the first person on the line, and your ego tells you that you can do anything now that you have power. Assuming that the resource everyone else wants to access is water. And you are the first person on the line, and you have ten buckets that you must fill with water. And the people behind you have specific number of buckets to fill water. The tap is running, and you have your first bucket is filling up. And the other nine buckets have filled the sink.

The people behind you are either holding their buckets, or have found somewhere to place on them. To fill all your ten buckets, it will take roughly 60 minutes. This means that, everyone else will have to stand there for one hour. Watch you fill bucket after bucket, before the next person gets a chance. Of course there is nothing wrong by filling all your ten buckets while everyone watches. But when everything is done, what impression will people have about you. You chose you and your needs. You had just had to eat first. And no one could eat before you felt satisfied. Therefore, as long as, you felt you needed more food, you kept filling your plate without caring that people behind you are hungry too. But what happens when you lead with wisdom? By the end of 60 minutes, it will not be just you with water.

Some two or three people will also have water. One filled bucket is better than nothing. At least someone can do something with a full bucket of water. When the person standing in front of the line implements individual vs. community ethics, things change. By using situational ethics, the person in front, will learn that there are other people who need water. Therefore, instead, of one individual taking 60 minutes to fill ten buckets, one individual decides to do what is best for the community. Share the 60 minutes with others. If, the person in front fills his/her first bucket, and lets other people on the line fill one bucket each, those will be ten people with water. Those would be ten satisfied people. Nine people who did not expect to fetch water until the first person had finished filling the ten buckets now have water. That small act of caring goes a long way.

The nine people will think about that act several days later. You just created an opportunity for other people to benefit, when you had power to deny them access. It will take longer to eventually fill the remaining bucket, but at least you lead with wisdom. You made the right decision based on the situation at hand. You stopped your ego from placing your water needs above the water needs of others. You made nine people who were perhaps stressed by the idea of waiting ease their pressure. At least, they did not wait for one hour to fetch water. You were kind to their needs and allowed them to fetch water. Now they are feeling good. You cannot take that feeling of what random acts of kindness do to people away. People learn valuable lessons from those acts. You also become a better person. Your act showed maturity.

But we do not live in a perfect world. It is not every day that people apply basic common sense practices, and ethics. The 21^st Century is a busy world. And everyone seems to be busy, until you ask what they are busy about. As a result, people are self-centered. They want to take everything despite the fact that, other people also need similar resources. Most people just do not care that other people depend on that one resource. Some people want to keep others waiting. Everyone should stand there and wait as they fill their ten buckets. Yet the person behind them has one or two buckets. Others take their poor decision making skills a notch higher. They start cheating. They begin emptying the filled buckets, and come back again, and again. They don’t care that just as the resource is important to them, it is also important to other people.

Don’t be that person. Be a good judge, and make the right call. Think about others. Make a decision, which creates benefits for the community as opposed to individual. Share your time and resource. It might take you longer to fill your ten buckets, but other people will have water too. When you are in front of the line, don’t be selfish. Think about other thirsty people. Use common sense when in shared space. If, everyone must have water from one resource, muscle some leadership. Give other people opportunities on your platform to solve their problems. You are definitely not Jesus, but your simple act of caring makes nine people feel good. You are changing the world. Society is now one less person selfish. Knowing that someone, somewhere is not selfish creates hope. The nine people that you helped will go ahead, and spread the act to other people. At least someone learned.

If, you happen to be the first person on line next time. Don’t abuse the privilege of being in front. Act with responsibility. Show some common sense. Let people see your modesty through your actions. Don’t tell people you are educated. Your education is in your actions. If, your actions are positive, people will learn from you. And you will have nothing with them learning from you. Your action will speak for you. Always think about the community when you are sharing space with other people. Your needs for the space do not precede the needs of others for the space. You need wisdom to arrive at such decision, and thinking. Don’t be an obstacle. Think. Let others solve their problem when you would have solved yours alone. Think about other people, and give them an opportunity to access water.