Merriam –Webster Dictionary defines compassion as
“A sympathetic consciousness of other’s distress
together with a desire to alleviate it”
“Before we can generate compassion and love, it is important to have a clear understanding of what we understand compassion and love to be. In simple terms, compassion and love can be defined as positive thoughts and feelings that give rise to such essential things in life as hope, courage, determination, and inner strength.” (DALAI LAMA)
As a human being we are all made up of physical. intellectual, emotional and spiritual elements .We feel affected by the sufferings of others poor, downtrodden and homeless people, especially if they belong to the category of children. There are people belonging to different strata of society who are uneducated and cannot even fulfill the basic necessities of life even after full day of hard work. They demand our care and help and we should be ready to help them because we are blessed people in terms of money, power and other privileges. Literature of every age is full of instances where life- like characters have been shown to have big hearts full of love and compassion for others.
ACTS OF KINDNESS IN NOVEL ‘OLIVER TWIST‘ by CHARLES DICKENS– Oliver Twist (Also named as Parish boy’s Progress) shows the struggles of a boy named Oliver Twist who is an orphan and has no guardian to look after him. He has been brought up in an orphanage of Victorian society. The young boys at orphanage are made to work hard and humiliated everyday and given meagre amount of food which is not suffice to satisfy their hunger. The protagonist named Oliver Twist absconds from the place and falls into the trap of Artful Dodger, a juvenile pickpocket who takes him to his gang of burglars whose leader is Mr. Fagin.
Oliver is arrested and falsely accused of stealing a gentleman named Mr Brownlow’s handkerchief. But the truth is revealed that he wasn’t the real culprit and the Kind man Mr. Brownlow takes him to his house and cares for him. In another of the incidence, Fagin traps him again and Oliver ends up being shot in his left arm. He is abandoned and he again reaches Mr. Brownlow’s house where he is recognised as a son of an acquaintance of the gentleman and he gets care of the people he was supposed to rob: Miss Rose and Mrs Maylie. He starts leading a fresh life .
THE FAMOUS SHAKESPEAREAN POEM ‘MERCY’ — In the famous tragi-comedy play “The Merchant of Venice” William Shakespeare has thrown light on the importance of mercy and compassion in the lives of human beings. The character named Portia who is disguised as lawyer Balthazar and is standing in the court of Venice urges the villain Shylock to show mercy upon Antonio who has staked his one pound of flesh for his dear friend Bassanio. Have a look at the extract from the play .
"The quality of mercy is not strain’d; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. ...................................................................... ...................................................................... But mercy is above this sceptred sway, It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God’s When mercy seasons justice."
BEING SELFLESS AND BENEVOLENT–
One of the greatest traits of a good human being is to be selfless and benevolent. Personally I feel , a person might be very rich or powerful yet he cannot be respected in society if he/she does not have a kind and generous heart. Rendering a selfless service to the needy sections of our society can be the best form of help to others.
In William Golding’s classic novel, Lord of the Flies, the character Simon is good for an entirely different reason . He behaves kindly because he’s filled with kindness. He is good, because for him, there is simply no other way to exist. As an allegorical figure, Simon can be seen as a sort of mystic whose motivations are selfless and act as a counterpoint to the barbarism that soon surrounds him. From the beginning of the novel, Simon is seen to be taking care of the smaller children, comforting them and making sure they are fed. He ”found for them the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands.
“WHY DO WE NEED TO GIVE A HELPING HAND TO THE UNPREVILEGED CHILDREN?”
The world’s best entertainer and popstar Michael Jackson had said in his very famous speech ,”I realize that many of our world’s problems today – from the inner city crime, to large scale wars and terrorism, and our overcrowded prisons – are a result of the fact that children have had their childhood stolen from them. The magic, the wonder, the mystery, and the innocence of a child’s heart, are the seeds of creativity that will heal the world. I really believe that.“
We should realize that there is an urgent need to help children who are needy and poor, there are several children who eat only once daily. whose dreams of education is crushed due to family burdens and other sufferings. Let us join our hands in helping those children .
SANKALP – One of the NGOs whih is being successfully run by students of NIT Jamshedpur is wholeheartedly dedicated to helping such underprevileged children by providing free and quality education and other significant amenities such as school bags and stationaries, dresses and food. It has several branches in Jamshedpur. Please visit the following site to see more compassionate works done by this NGO. You can be one of the many who can render selfless service to children by contributing financially or by being one of the volunteers in the NGO.
http://www.sankalpnitjamshedpur.org
Please find more details about the views of young Director of NGO SANKALP “Mr. SHIVENDRA SRIVASTAVA” and follow him on the following youtube channel , http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXLjD_GIjyedM-bocjckDEQ