To really know someone

We all need to know someone. Maybe for a job, to be friends with, to work with or even car pool with and most importantly to spend your life with.

There is only so much you can put on a CV or your online social profile. The more information you look for the more information you will need to get a better picture. My maternal uncle uses this phrase very often ' a specialist is a person who knows more and more about less and less'. 

But humans are not an object they are a species who can differ from their entire population. The worlds most fierce dictators were students of fine art, but their cruelty was not taught in schools. A human's identity can not be determined by his name, qualification, job or ambition and maybe not even by the company he keeps. You won't judge a jail's warden to be evil because of the inmates he guards and spends most of his day with. Sure he is a gate keeper but who is he really stopping from crossing over. Lotus grow in mud, diamonds are found in the black pits of the earth, a saint is born amongst the corrupt. 

Humans don't just cut trees, they can burn them for fuel, make weapons to hunt, carve them into piece of art, make homes, or simply do it for someone else. It is not important to know what he does it is important to know what he does it for.

My advice don't google them, ask the person directly, if he is lying to your face, then what assurance is it that he is telling the truth online. Trust your instinct before you trust the source, if God is with you he won't let you choose wrong. :)

The Noble Thing to Do

I come across fresh graduates who cannot find a job without experience, but don't want to work in call centres or jobs which do not add high value skills to their CV. For such graduates, whose ethics have not yet been corrupted by the system, working for an NGO seems like a noble task, but the concept of voluntary work without pay makes them hesitant in this day and age of fast lives.

The dilemma of doing good for the society, but the fear of lack of income not only haunts the young but also the much experienced employees, professionals and entrepreneurs. We all want to add value to our lives and not just money, but our wants always overshadow our needs in a manner which strangle us in a web of working more like machines than humans. When younger we all wanted to work in 9 to 5 environments but our ever growing wants makes the little joys of life redundant.

While we struggle to full fill our wants, there are those who cannot meet their own needs. Is there no way out of this guilt?

If God did not want us to work for more than our needs, he would have made us live on trees, and if He did not want us to help each other and be a social animal, he would have not made us humans.

Fulfilling wants is futile, but providing what one needs is much easier.

No matter what you do, provide for someone's Need, and make it a routine. Your wants won't reduce but the guilt will.

27th May, 2014