Become a GOOD citizen of the world. Wherever you find yourself, give the best of yourself there. Treat your host community well and always be humane to people. Keep in mind that “where you come from” may not always have your back as “where you are.” Don’t be the reason others are paying for a sin they didn’t commit.
Be charitable with your resources. Empower people. Mentor the people. Frankly, life isn’t what you should pass through without at least pointing to someone that your resources, time and efforts showed “the way.’’ ‘’True happiness is to understand our duties towards God and man.’’
Give back to society through committed charity endeavours. Begin to see charity as nothing less than a SINCERE way of life. Bear your cross with grace and NOT inhumanity. Don’t hurt others because you have been hurt. Don’t defraud others because you are going through hardship. Your saving grace does not lie in inhuman acts but in HUMANE efforts. Life is only challenging but not unfair!
Spend less on frivolities. There’s always someone whose life could have been changed with the money spent on every needless item in your space. Always dignify and reward labour. It’s the only way to cure the world of greed, laziness and related vices. Encourage and uplift those who sweat for their bread. Remember that they had a choice not to follow the straight narrow path. Let none fail to profit from their “sweat’’ in your hands!
Sacrifice a little for another to grow. Not every purchase is worth a bargain. Learn to tell people “keep the change.” Don’t always make people SWEAT for everything they profit from you. How much of the goodwill that has come your way in life did you really work for?
Learn to dispense goodness for no reason. Find joy in making someone’s day. Do good for others without being asked. Encourage people (who have benefited from you) to pay it forward. It’s the only way to leave the world brimming with enough “goodness.”
Affirm people more than you criticise them. A lot of emotional damage is caused by mean words. The human spirit is more fragile than we realise. You have no idea how far words can go to either uplift or damage a soul. Always remember that words are not always mere.
When you see a need, don’t always wait to be asked before you help. Not many people have the courage to ask for help despite dying to be helped. Your involvement in this manner elevates kindness and people’s hope in humanity. Be the reason someone believes in the goodness of people.’
Don’t make mockery of how anybody chooses to “know’’ God. Don’t denigrate the faith or religious efforts that make another a better person. I have often said that what every religion owes humanity is to churn out better human beings. Don’t abuse privileges or trust. When your action closes the door for someone else, you are invariably elongating the chain of damage in the world.
If you can afford it. Think of the next child, whose circumstances have made “where the next meal will come from’’ uncertain. Don’t provide for yours only. I visited a relative in a Nigerian university not long ago and experienced firsthand the LACK that the average student grapples with. In addition to providing them with brooms and mops for basic sanitation, I took it upon myself to buy bags of “pure-water’’ weekly for him and his hostel mates. It may not be much but coming back (from classes) to available drinkable water is a burden off the shoulders of an average student in this clime. You too can devise ways to strike off a burden wherever you can help it!
If you missed part one of this essay, read it here: Ways To Help Heal The World (I), By Chukwuneta Oby
If you missed part two of this essay, read it here: Ways To Help Heal The World (II), By Chukwuneta Oby
Credit: Chukwuneta Oby, Punch