ON GIVING

On GIVING :

Nature, and its constituents like flora and fauna and other natural phenomena are all wired to GIVEJ A tree gives shade, its flowers and fruits during its life time and gives itself to nature after death! The food chain has a Giving Chain!!! With the Humans simply sitting at the top!!!!  The Giving process here is part of Nature’s DNA and it is always out of default and not out of choice!

The human species is fortunate to have been gifted with the ability to think, the ability to choose, the ability to distinguish between right and wrong and the ability to laugh. Indeed a human being  who is aware of these endowments and consciously deploys these in his/her living, will find success and happiness. Sharing or Giving to the deserving,  is also an ability exclusively gifted only to the human species.

Those with resources in abundance of more than what they need to live, have but two choices, “GIVING”  part of the surplus to the needy or simply hoarding it selfishly with themselves. However, if Giving were easy,  the world would have been a much better place today. It probably is a good topic for researchers to study the DNA, attributes and traits of

 a. those human being to whom “GIVING” comes very easily without any extrinsic motivation,

 b. those to whom “GIVING”  comes from extrinsic motivation like tax benefits and

 c. those to who can Give but just don’t Give!!!

Further, Giving money or other material resources for a cause is probably a much easier option than Giving TIME, because the responsibility in the former ends with signing the cheque! However Giving TIME to a cause is a need in today’s world. The values of caring and sharing and  investing  one’s time for a cause requires high level of commitment, passion and determination. The currency here is TIME, Giving Quality TIME to those in need of it.  It is the need of the hour, when the gap between the haves and the have-nots, is widening and is the major cause of increasing instances of crime in society, across the world.

A better tomorrow, a better world will be possible not only by improvement in technology or by sharing surplus wealth, but also by investing Time and Patience with the underprivileged and disseminating the HOPE FOR A BETTER Life for every member of the human species. Education systems in their content and process may include sensitivising students to living lives which make this Green Planet a better living place for generations to come and ensure the healthy longevity of the human species in the Universe. It is not only the onus or responsibility of Governments and Commercial Corporations to make this happen. It is the responsibility of every human being to appreciate their purpose on this Planet and contribute their bit towards making this Planet a better home for all its stakeholders for a long time to come.

Prof.Latha Pradeep Nair [Maiden Name: Latha Lakshminarayanan]

March 23, 2013