Here I am sitting on a Sunday morning with my laptop in front of me, trying to do some soul searching to find out what kindly qualities I possess! To tell the truth I am doing this only because I have been informed by Blogchatter that kindness is as much a genetically inherited trait as the rest of our character is. I have not indulged in soul searching often, but I am doing it now and trying to do an honest job of it. I also realize that if I were to think of kindness as genetically inherited then whatever qualities I discover in myself, I should be able to link them to my parents.
It has always been the contention of most of my family and friends, that I take after my mother while my sister is more like my father. When I reflect on my character, the most predominant trait which comes to my mind is my attitude towards small children. As my daughter and wife would testify, I have this weakness for little children which makes it easy for any kid to wrap me around his/her little finger.
When I am surfing through social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, if I come across a crowd funding advertisement, my immediate urge is to contribute, irrespective of what my financial status is at that point in time.
And this is especially the case if the advert mentions that my contributions would benefit a child directly or indirectly. Another thing is, if the child in question happens to resemble my daughter even remotely, I would end up contributing a huge sum. I have been admonished by my friends and family for this. They tell me that there are many scamsters who swindle gullible people like me out of their money through false advertisements.
But I can’t help myself and so far, I have found that if I follow up on what happened to my contribution, all the crowd funding platforms like Impactguru, Milaap, Ketto and several others do provide proper updates on their websites about what happened to the recipient of my contribution. This characteristic of mine that impels me to help young children in difficulties is something that I have inherited from both my parents as both are extremely fond of children.
I also get moved by old people’s problems and inherit my mother’s kindness towards them. Very often when I am seated in a bus or a train, if some old man or woman enters and is unable to find a seat, then my immediate instinct is to give up my seat. I am a bit of a feminist too. I will never sit on a seat marked as one meant for ladies in a bus or train, even if it is empty.
I have found many men arguing that if women want to be treated as equals, then they should not ask for such benefits. I would like to point out to such men that most of the women travelling in these buses and trains are working women. Before talking of benefits and equality, I would ask these men to just think of an average Indian working woman’s day. They have to wake up early in the morning at 4 or 5 AM and cook. Then they have to take care of their in-laws needs. After that they have to pack the children’s lunch and send them to school. Then they have to take care of the husband and send him off to office.
After all this, they finally have to pack their own lunch and rush to catch an already over-crowded bus to reach their office. In the office they have to work non-stop through the day under the thumb of a demanding boss. The only break they get is during the lunch hour. Come evening, the women have to again catch a crowded bus back home, and then head straight to the kitchen to cook food for the family.
If the chauvinistic gents in the bus can’t allow a woman to sit on a seat marked as one meant for ladies, my only question to them is what sort of man are you? This strong and compelling feeling for gender equality is something partly inherited from my father and partly an inculcated characteristic. My mother was a working woman who is retired now, and my sister is a doctor. I have seen them face the difficulties of working women.
Well, by and large I suppose I can be called a kind human being, but I really get angry when I get swindled by scamsters. That has also happened a couple of times and my anger knew no bounds. But I thank God, it has not affected me so far as to squelch the streak of kindness in me.
This post is a part of Blogchatter Blog Hop
You do come across as a benign soul. I consider it a blessing to have you as a friend.
Thank you, Tom.