Mentor thoughts - Part 2

Why is there so much indifference? Don't we find it so easy to look away from people who suffer? It seems the easier route not to feel responsible or connected to the tears of the world. Let there be terrorism. Let the bomb blasts go on. Let there be poverty. Let there be hunger. Let the children of my own servant-maid live in tattered clothes; so what if my driver's children don't go to school; what am I to do if my watchman's children don't have enough to eat. That's their fate and I don't author their destiny. Isn't it awkward and troublesome to be involved in the pain and despair of other people? He is suffering his cross and that's his stuff. Oh, what an indifference? As long as my life is progressing on normal lines, I am able to enjoy a fine meal, a family to live for and live with, enough to entertain and enough to promise a future, what's happening to my neighbour is of no consequence to me.
Indifference is worse than anger, more cruel than hatred, worse than revenge. At least in anger, hatred and the urge for revenge, there still exists some emotion for the other human being. Indifference reduces the other to an abstraction. Indifference makes a human being inhuman. Indifference numbs you of your feelings for others. In that sense, indifference is not only a sin but also a punishment.
Let us learn to feel for the last man. Let us embrace inclusive love. Let our love include the last man in it. Let there be some sensations in our eyes when we see tears in the eyes of other people. Let us relinquish indifference. Let us begin to make a difference. We can do our part. We can play a big part.
Let us not forsake those who already feel forsaken by life. I understand that even to think we can wipe every tear from every eye may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears in the world, and as long as there is breath left in us, let our work continue.
It is not that Buddha achieved a desire-free world. Neither could Christ build a world full of compassion. Nor did Teresa lift everyone out of the gutters. But they all did what they could. That's the big question! Did I play my part?
Ordinary men unfold extraordinary possibilities when they identify themselves with a goal larger than themselves. Any work that is selfless, any work that is beyond 'Me, Mine and Myself', any work where the other is put ahead of myself, that very work unfolds a giant of a personality from within me. Any work with a selfless intent becomes god's work. Those who work for themselves get respected. Those who work for a cause larger than any individual interest get revered. Barristers and schoolteachers and journalists and carpenters became revered legends only after they identified themselves with a cause larger than themselves. It isn't me, but it is what I represent that defines me.The purpose of the heart is to connect to another heart. Let us learn to feel once again… all over again… When you feel for the creation, the creator feels for you.