Meaning is attached to life only when one’s own living makes a difference to others.
I think all of us know this somehow, somewhere, within our hearts. And make an effort to add this meaning to our lives. Let's face it though, we can all point out a few people who lead meaningless lives. Rich and easy maybe, but meaningless all the same.
There is an old Bollywood song which has my favorite line of all time "Jeena uska jeena hai jo auron ko jeevan deta hai'. (roughly, and less poetically- a person is really living life when he/she is giving life to others)
It makes me think of my dad because to me he symbolized what the song meant at its very basic. A doctor in government service, my father worked to save lives for a considerably nominal salary. He had a lot of respect and perks. We were nowhere near rich, but we did get a lot of hand-embroidered linen and home-cooked meals as thank-yous after successful surgeries :).
I think of hospice nurses.Those who are there with you at the most important juncture of life - death. They mean so much to families and patients, and provide such comprehensive support, I cannot think of more meaningful work.
And I also think of mothers who bring people into this world and nurture them. That is giving life of course, and so is fostering and adopting children.
But life is so much more then just breathing and surviving. Saving or nurturing physical life is not the be-all end-all of giving. Mothers and doctors and nurses play an amazing meaningful role, but it is, after all, relational to those we are responsible for. And that elusive joie de vivre we pursue can be ours only when we try to give that joy to others.
So who shares or gives the essentials of life- peace, belonging, happiness? Who really does the 'jevan deta hai' part?
You do. When you reach out to a lonely neighbor, you add a sense of companionship and safety to their life. When you reach out to catch someone tripping, you literally are giving them balance. When you crack a light joke to lighten the mood of a queue of impatient people in a bureaucratic office, you alleviate some stress. When you bring home a pet from the shelter, you have given a haven to the homeless. When you explain to a child that him being slower or shorter or darker is what makes him beautifully unique, you have made someone feel very special.
Live that kind of a life where the fact that you were here in the world, or rather that you were there at that specific point in space-time, is a cause for joy and solace for someone else. I believe that is the very purpose of us being on earth.
Of course we all have family and friends who make our lives worth living. Those special people we matter to. But there is whole world of people we can matter for. And we don't have to rush off to refugee camps and help provide much-needed relief there. We do not all have to set-up big start-ups or make politically grand gestures. We can add meaning by those little things we do everyday. Helped someone load groceries in the car? Fill a form? Cross the street? Bought coffee for someone waiting for a bus in the rain? Whether consciously or unconsciously, that someone is glad you were there, that you were living. You mattered, your life had meaning.
We cannot possibly be doing wonderful and sweet things everyday. I know. I tried. As an experiment, I decided to check every night if I had done something good during the day. Dropped it pretty soon because I was getting to feel worthless and depressed. And I did not want to turn into a maniac who might pull an old lady across a street she did not really want to cross!
Prophet Muhammad said a smile is a good deed. It is a proven fact that looking at someone smile makes you happy. And sometimes it just the mirror we need to smile at to add that little bounce of meaning to our own lives. That is great work too.
Making a difference does not have to be a plan you get up with. It is an ingrained attitude we all have. We just have to act on it when we see a situation we can make better. I believe it is as natural as breathing, but sometimes circumstances (or really, really evil intentions) change that natural setting. We all want to live good lives. A life well lived is not just one that you enjoy but one that has made some positive difference to another's life.
I think all of us know this somehow, somewhere, within our hearts. And make an effort to add this meaning to our lives. Let's face it though, we can all point out a few people who lead meaningless lives. Rich and easy maybe, but meaningless all the same.
There is an old Bollywood song which has my favorite line of all time "Jeena uska jeena hai jo auron ko jeevan deta hai'. (roughly, and less poetically- a person is really living life when he/she is giving life to others)
It makes me think of my dad because to me he symbolized what the song meant at its very basic. A doctor in government service, my father worked to save lives for a considerably nominal salary. He had a lot of respect and perks. We were nowhere near rich, but we did get a lot of hand-embroidered linen and home-cooked meals as thank-yous after successful surgeries :).
I think of hospice nurses.Those who are there with you at the most important juncture of life - death. They mean so much to families and patients, and provide such comprehensive support, I cannot think of more meaningful work.
And I also think of mothers who bring people into this world and nurture them. That is giving life of course, and so is fostering and adopting children.
But life is so much more then just breathing and surviving. Saving or nurturing physical life is not the be-all end-all of giving. Mothers and doctors and nurses play an amazing meaningful role, but it is, after all, relational to those we are responsible for. And that elusive joie de vivre we pursue can be ours only when we try to give that joy to others.
So who shares or gives the essentials of life- peace, belonging, happiness? Who really does the 'jevan deta hai' part?
You do. When you reach out to a lonely neighbor, you add a sense of companionship and safety to their life. When you reach out to catch someone tripping, you literally are giving them balance. When you crack a light joke to lighten the mood of a queue of impatient people in a bureaucratic office, you alleviate some stress. When you bring home a pet from the shelter, you have given a haven to the homeless. When you explain to a child that him being slower or shorter or darker is what makes him beautifully unique, you have made someone feel very special.
Live that kind of a life where the fact that you were here in the world, or rather that you were there at that specific point in space-time, is a cause for joy and solace for someone else. I believe that is the very purpose of us being on earth.
Of course we all have family and friends who make our lives worth living. Those special people we matter to. But there is whole world of people we can matter for. And we don't have to rush off to refugee camps and help provide much-needed relief there. We do not all have to set-up big start-ups or make politically grand gestures. We can add meaning by those little things we do everyday. Helped someone load groceries in the car? Fill a form? Cross the street? Bought coffee for someone waiting for a bus in the rain? Whether consciously or unconsciously, that someone is glad you were there, that you were living. You mattered, your life had meaning.
We cannot possibly be doing wonderful and sweet things everyday. I know. I tried. As an experiment, I decided to check every night if I had done something good during the day. Dropped it pretty soon because I was getting to feel worthless and depressed. And I did not want to turn into a maniac who might pull an old lady across a street she did not really want to cross!
Prophet Muhammad said a smile is a good deed. It is a proven fact that looking at someone smile makes you happy. And sometimes it just the mirror we need to smile at to add that little bounce of meaning to our own lives. That is great work too.
Making a difference does not have to be a plan you get up with. It is an ingrained attitude we all have. We just have to act on it when we see a situation we can make better. I believe it is as natural as breathing, but sometimes circumstances (or really, really evil intentions) change that natural setting. We all want to live good lives. A life well lived is not just one that you enjoy but one that has made some positive difference to another's life.
