An Aunt of mine from New Delhi told me a very touching story a while back that I wanted to share...
Her and my Uncle were travelling on a local train between Allahabad and Ayodhya. In general, this is a small train that doesn’t see a tremendous amount of traffic, and for a good while, my Aunt and Uncle were the only ones on the train. They were eating their lunch on the train, and when they were full, they threw away a fair amount of food. A short while later, people finally started boarding the train. The lady that was sitting by my Aunt and Uncle had 3 children, and a few pieces of roti (Indian bread) and a single red pepper to feed them all with. The kids were crying that they were hungry, and the mom was completely helpless. Instantly, my Aunt and Uncle felt horrible about the food they had just thrown away. As they later started talking with the woman, they found out that she was travelling to her father’s funeral, and that she had to somehow provide food for the entire village the very next day. This, my Aunt and Uncle thought, would be an impossible feat considering she didn’t have enough to feed herself or her kids. When they asked her what she planned to do, she said that God will take care of them, just like He always has.
When they got off the train, my Aunt offered the woman some money to feed her kids, and additional money to help feed the village. My Aunt actually felt bad that she didn’t have more to offer this woman. To their astonishment, the woman refused. She didn’t want any charity, and had too much pride to come off as a beggar. After my Aunt was overly insistent, the woman finally accepted the money. Soon after, my Aunt later saw a beggar come up to that woman, and the woman gave him a part of the money she had just received, even though she still didn’t have enough to feed the village the next day.
What’s interesting to note here is that many people outside of India think of India as extremely poor. While there are definitely parts of India that are extremely poor, if you stay in the city, you really won’t see anything other than ordinary beggars, which I see in LA all the time too. It isn’t until you go to these more remote areas that you see true poverty: the children who walk barefoot for miles on an empty stomach to go to school, and then return hungry still because a corrupt official wants to keep the school lunch program money for himself; the mother going through a harvested rice field to find leftover grains of rice to feed her children; the woman who is too proud to beg for charity even though she is against the largest of odds to feed herself, let alone a village, and still finds it in her heart to help others.
To me, this is true humility: People who have nothing, and will not let it stop them from becoming something. We all have much to learn from these people who climb insurmountable odds everyday just to get through life, and many of them do it without complaining. The next few days, I'm visiting a village in the midst of such poverty, and I hope to learn a lot from everyone there about living life in such a selfless, courageous manner.
Her and my Uncle were travelling on a local train between Allahabad and Ayodhya. In general, this is a small train that doesn’t see a tremendous amount of traffic, and for a good while, my Aunt and Uncle were the only ones on the train. They were eating their lunch on the train, and when they were full, they threw away a fair amount of food. A short while later, people finally started boarding the train. The lady that was sitting by my Aunt and Uncle had 3 children, and a few pieces of roti (Indian bread) and a single red pepper to feed them all with. The kids were crying that they were hungry, and the mom was completely helpless. Instantly, my Aunt and Uncle felt horrible about the food they had just thrown away. As they later started talking with the woman, they found out that she was travelling to her father’s funeral, and that she had to somehow provide food for the entire village the very next day. This, my Aunt and Uncle thought, would be an impossible feat considering she didn’t have enough to feed herself or her kids. When they asked her what she planned to do, she said that God will take care of them, just like He always has.
When they got off the train, my Aunt offered the woman some money to feed her kids, and additional money to help feed the village. My Aunt actually felt bad that she didn’t have more to offer this woman. To their astonishment, the woman refused. She didn’t want any charity, and had too much pride to come off as a beggar. After my Aunt was overly insistent, the woman finally accepted the money. Soon after, my Aunt later saw a beggar come up to that woman, and the woman gave him a part of the money she had just received, even though she still didn’t have enough to feed the village the next day.
What’s interesting to note here is that many people outside of India think of India as extremely poor. While there are definitely parts of India that are extremely poor, if you stay in the city, you really won’t see anything other than ordinary beggars, which I see in LA all the time too. It isn’t until you go to these more remote areas that you see true poverty: the children who walk barefoot for miles on an empty stomach to go to school, and then return hungry still because a corrupt official wants to keep the school lunch program money for himself; the mother going through a harvested rice field to find leftover grains of rice to feed her children; the woman who is too proud to beg for charity even though she is against the largest of odds to feed herself, let alone a village, and still finds it in her heart to help others.
To me, this is true humility: People who have nothing, and will not let it stop them from becoming something. We all have much to learn from these people who climb insurmountable odds everyday just to get through life, and many of them do it without complaining. The next few days, I'm visiting a village in the midst of such poverty, and I hope to learn a lot from everyone there about living life in such a selfless, courageous manner.
2 comments:
What an inspiring story.. really makes you feel lucky and fortunate for the things you do have in life.. no matter how small or large.
The contrast between rural and urban poverty is so great... and you expressed it really well. Can't wait to see you (soon!) and chat more about this stuff (and random fun things, too)!
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