Look Around!

Have you ever stopped for a minute and looked around you? I'm talking about the people around you. You should try it...

Well, if you took a minute and looked at the people around you, you would notice that no one smiles anymore. No one enjoys the little pleasures of life like, let's say, a simple gesture, a simple walk, a simple discussion. If this is also your conclusion concerning the others, then look at you. Yes, analyze your own person! Could it be that you have become just like the others? Never caring about anything and anyone?

Nowadays, we are all so busy making money and making things good for ourselves that we forget that others do exist. Actually? we are selfish. Don't be afraid to admit it? I'm selfish and so are you. Caught up by our own interests, we don't seem to have time for others. After all, if one doesn't take care of one's self, who will? Right?

I was talking to one of my friends the other day, when a small gipsy child came to us and asked us for money. Did I give him money? Yes, I did. But I don't know exactly if I did it because I felt pity for him and I wanted to help or if my gesture came from the need to ease my conscience and feel good about myself. In case of someone calling me superficial and selfish I would have had an argument to contradict him with. So? did I do it for him or for me?

We're living in a world in which even mothers choose to abandon their children. And if a mother forgets about her own son/daughter, can we blame our neighbor for forgetting about us? I get very angry sometimes about a person's certain gesture or affirmation. But then I stop and think? did I deserve his/hers treatment? And sometimes, what do you know, I really do deserve it.

One of my friends is a volunteer at an orphanage and I went there because I needed to talk to her. Could you imagine the site I was confronted with? Have you ever seen the desperate and extremely sad look on such a child's face? How do you react to a small child that comes and hugs you, that is desperate for a single sign of affection from the others, that even calls you 'mom' because he would like to associate your image with the one of his mother? How do you explain to him that you too are going to leave?

This experience shocked me though I've always thought about me as being a strong person, immune to so many things. No one, except a monster, could have ignored such a situation and just let it pass by.

In that second, I realized that this is just one case and that there are many others similar to it or even worse. The thing is that we all accept the existence of these cases, but when it comes to actually doing something about it, most of us freak out and quit. I think that some of us do it out of commodity or they just don't care.

If celebrities support humanitarian actions and actually contribute in order to improve the status of so many people, why should we refuse the chance given to us in making this world a better place? I agree, you can't change everything in one minute but make that minute an hour, a month, a year?

But stars have a lot of money, they can afford helping humanitarian associations? you'll say. To help someone you don't necessarily have to give him money, there are so many other ways of lending a hand. A smile, a hug, a nice word can mean the world to a child and you'll be convinced after seeing the look in a child's eyes when giving him just a little of your attention.

Someone once told me that people are fools to rely on the others because, being as helpless as we are, they are not going to help us and that each of us will die alone. As such, we should act like we are alone. The question is: should we adopt this principle or create a new one to live by?

Photo credits: www.eucatastrophe.com; cat.middlebury.edu/~sap/contest/orphan.htm