Monday, December 27, 2004
Reflection
"A Real Leader Faces The Music, Even If He Doesn't Like The Tune"
Anonymous Living in a world where people are self-centered, selfish, uncompassionate, and even emotionless, sparks off a new series of concerns in this ever-changing society, especially to me. As a volunteer, though I’ve not seen everything, I’ve been able to understand the plights, fear, sadness, distraught, and even loneliness of the under privileged. What we go through everyday, I believe, is not amount to the amount they have to face, suffer, and endure during their twilight years, and for some, even, throughout their lifetime.
A lot of us has always misunderstood these people as useless, a disgrace to the family, a financial and psychological burden, a curse they believed brought down from their ancestors for the wrong they did. But have we ever realized, just how are they alike to us? Is it their physical features? Is it their DNA structure? Or, is it how perfect they are?
Recently I was on a volunteer attachment under the YVIP for 2 weeks, and it was during this 2 weeks, only did I realize that true meaning and essence of volunteering. It’s (volunteering) not just about giving our time and services to these people who need more help than others, it’s also realizing how perfect they are to us, no matter what they are born with or without. Have we ever asked ourselves this? How perfect are they?
You may think that well, they’re not perfect at all, they’re people who’ve got mental problems, with physical disabilities. But have you, have we, ever thought about what being perfect was like from their point of view? They may not have the perfect set of fingers, the amount of IQ like us, the exact proportion of body parts, but in their own eyes, the things they do, the things they say, how they feel, just makes me feel so ashamed of myself. I don’t even have that amount of self-esteem, that mental drive to strive for the best, but believe me, theirs’ way surpasses ours. They just feel so perfect in their world, though they may not be in ours. But who cares? What they need is for us to accept them, to let them be part of society again, and not to condemn them, ostracize them, discriminate against them.
You think that’s tough? Let go of your view of perfectionism, instead of viewing a normal person as being physically perfect, let someone who’s either lost a limb, a couple of fingers, or even be mentally challenged, be the one you view as being the one who’s perfect. A lot of us think that being perfect is being very clever, being very well built, handsome, pretty, tall, and slim. But have we ever wondered to ourselves, are the less fortunate perfect in these aspects? No. But have you ever wondered how come their drive for the best, their self-esteem, and self-confidence is so high? It’s because they are perfect, not physically, but in terms of attitude, and character. They realize that being physically perfect isn’t important at all. So what if you’re someone who’s the cleverest person in the world with the best looking body and face, but you don’t have the slightest bit of compassion and emotion for other people? Compare yourself to these people. Ask yourself, are you as perfect as them, and not vice versa. You’ll realize just how much you’ve been missing out on in your entire lifetime here on earth.
Thomas Jovian
pawed at 11:09 PM
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