Day 8 of 30

Its techinically Day 9, as its past midnight...but whenever its quiet and no distractions, its easy to write.

Hmm....what do i write about...i know something i realised yesterday 'Doing the right thing at right time', dont ask me whats prompting this, else again this post will become again a rant about i, me and myself.

How often do we act as we preach...or lets put it this way, how often do we do the right thing at right time. There is a split second though, a decision to make between acting and walking away and a choice to make, between the right and wrong. Its the strong character that decides doing the right thing. A lot of people speak and write about all kinds of right things...and most of them when put in the situation to act in a short notice, are unlikely to do what they preach or atleast they believe they practise.

In a conversation with a family member , it came up today about charity and giving back to the society... a lot of people with enough to spare and right conscience have done charity at some point of time, but how many of us do charitable act when needed or when they are presented with it and are not prepared for it. If we ever have to make a donation to the charity we support, we look at our finances and at a pre decided date, we give the money. OR you are volunteering, you make sure your other commitments do not clash and plan for the day you go out and do a certain act. But when you are presented with it when least prepared, how well do we respond to it. In the conversation I was mentioning , the family member mentioned about something he saw years ago, that stuck in his mind and has been a factor why he gives charity and what he saw was a very aged woman trying to pick a half idli on the railway track in chennai,if you have ever seen a railway station in chennai, i dont have to explain to you, how dirty and filthy it is...I asked, if it moved you so much, you could have bought a plate of idli and given it to her and to that he said 'yes...it dont occur to me...but i felt really bad seeing it'. Thats how it is, the situation caught him unaware, he was so struck by the situation, it did not occur he could have done something about it.And not just him, many others who saw that happening, must have been affected by it, but no-one did offer her a fresh plate of idli, which probably cost Rs10.

It is nobody's fault that most of us are like this, we are not tuned to act, or ready to confront the situation in the face. It is not the money or the time that matters, it is the inability to make a decision at the right time. In small day to day activities, we turn blind eye to things we otherwise declare we believe in.

Something like that happened to me yesterday, after that split second wavering, I cursed myself a million times..but the truth is I did let off, I dint act responsibly, I did not act as I preach...I am overcome with feeling of shame, as i think of it now. but maybe confessing my weakness will give me some solace.