As we "saw" so shall we reap

Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not.

Oprah Winfrey 

I learnt a lot of my virtues from my maternal grandparents. They were an extremely good influence and an amazing catalyst in my learning process during my growing-up years.

They taught me many things (directly & indirectly), among which a few are the ones I can still recall-

1. Doing the right things no matter what it may spell.

2. Understanding the value of money

3. Invest in people and everything you can, but diversify your investments, whether they are financial, social or purely emotional, to hedge the risks

4. Help others and help selflessly

5. Always put people ahead

6. Maintain a clean surrounding as you would maintain a clean heart, if not for others but for yourself.

7. Do not give up!

My grandmom would always tell me tales from the lives of Lord Krishna, birds, the animal kingdom and many such things. Those tales would be full of fun, but will always have a message inside them. I would often be engrossed in their intricacies and wonder if they were just an old-world charm or do they still hold good in front of larger groups.

As I grew up, I realised a lot of these virtues were treated as outdated, and people would often mock someone practising them. For eg, standing up and giving the bus seat to a needy person was mere filth. Well, l that was the part of growing up. Sooner I realised that those virtues, no matter how much they sound "not in practice" in current times, were still important. Hence, I prefer to stick to them.

My grand ma also told me the value of money and investments and how certain things in life is beyond money or gain. I have often seen her doing the right things and protecting people. I would question why? Let them have a taste of water and realise, but she would insist, saying as long as she can manage saving someone from leaning without burning their hands, she will do.

She told how our deeds evolve us as a person, how our thoughts evolve our deeds. We often become the person we see, we think, without even realising it.

The power of education

Education is not just about reading a phrase in a textbook and qualifying in an exam. It is much more. It is power. We learn in different ways. One of the prime ways to learn is during your childhood. Remember the time we used to go to school and were in the early grades. Our textbooks would read very basic things like how we should get up early in the morning and brush our teeth regularly, and go to school, etc. Those may sound silly, but when you draw the right context, you may realise how they lay the foundation in a human being and how following them redirects life to the right direction.

Next to doing the right thing, the most important thing is to let people know you are doing the right thing.

John D. Rockefeller 

Sometimes you need to disclose your actions or deeds. You must explain so that people can see through and follow. A lot of times, when we cannot explain, we express it by setting self as benchmarks.

One act of kindness goes a long way

To commensurate with what Rockefeller said, I will narrate an incident from my school life.

When I was in school, I never got pocket money. Whatever wishes I had were evaluated and fulfilled by the grandparents and family. However, every morning, my nanaji would give me a Re 1 coin or note to put in my piggy bank. It was his way to teach me to start saving.

There was a "poor fund" collection at my convent school where my class teacher had allocated 4 different boxes for four different houses/groups in the class- Orange, Green, Red and Blue. Students were allocated in each group. Every morning, she will keep the boxes on the table for collection. The money would be collected and donated to poor people to support their education. Donating the money was optional, and students who donated the money would put the money in the boxes belonging to their respective groups. Very few students would ever come regularly to donate the money. I belonged to the Orange group, and by virtue of our nos, we were very few students- barely three in that class belonging to that group. Call it my love for the poor or my wish to donate, or my lack of need for money for myself, I would always donate the money in the box to bring my group up. 

One day, my grandpa asked me what I did with the Re1 given to me every day, as I was depositing very little of it in my piggy bank. I told him about my class donation. He said nothing. I thought he got angry. The next morning, when I was going to school and was standing at my school gate for the bus to come, my grandpa, as customary, came to me and handed me my daily coin. I realised that day, he handed me not 1 coin but two coins of Re 1 each. The second one was for my poor fund donation! In addition, he brought a piggy bank full of coins and asked me to drop another Re 1 coin in that. The moment I dropped my other Re 1 coin in that, he handed that box to me, saying it was my reward and I could keep it with me. I was all smiles and hugged him tight before I ran for my school bus.

No words, speeches or stories, but a lesson was taught. 

I am sharing what 'I Saw and I Learnt' at BlogAdda.com in association with DoRight.in