“I don’t feel sorry for you, I feel sorry
for myself, for I didn’t help you chase your dreams before.” I said these lines
to myself every night during my internship with CRY. I would think about the
innocent faces I saw in the rural areas of Delhi during my field work.
I don’t feel sorry for them because they all
seemed to be so happy and content in their small little world, but I feel sorry
for myself because I made the mistake of being so unaware of the situation and
enjoying myself, while the little kids there were unable to enjoy their
childhood in real sense. Facing the most unreal hardships even before they
could get hold of themselves is so disheartening.
Every child has the right to know how to
spell APPLE or how to sing Twinkle Twinkle and also that 2+2=4 and not 5. We
all think that we can only help them by making donations or getting associated
with some or the other NGO. We have this thought running in our minds that only
people who always have their pockets full can get the little ones’ shattered
dreams put together again. But, I realised that apart from just donations and
associations with NGO, there is so much more “WE” can do. It is just a matter
of self-realisation and commitment that will help us help them.
Nothing can beat a selfless and an
unconditional help. Imagine yourself in a condition of extreme poverty and
negligence and how would you feel if society doesn’t consider you as one among
many others living there. Doing something extraordinarily great is what is
expected from any of us. Just a mere “I am there for you” attitude will make
such a huge difference to the less fortunate ones.
We can just start to make a change from our
own house. Say if we have a maid or a servant who is less than 14 years, we can
help them by making them learn the Basic English words and Math problems and
tell them how important education is in one’s life. Work is not meant for them
to do right now. It might sound a bit bizarre doing something like this, but, I
have tried this and trust me it does feel great to have made a change at least
in one life.
Another possible and the most appropriate
way is to take the child whose rights you think are being violated to any of
the nearest child rights NGOs and tell them the situation. It is not necessary
that you have to be an acquaintance to that NGO, but you can always take their
help for any kind of constructive action.
Just think of 10 people doing this for a
child everyday and the amount of changes that it will bring about in
society. Not everyone in the society has
the drive to be “The Change maker”, it is just the inner voice that calls out
to you to do something for the ones who are just like us. The only difference
is that they do not get to enjoy the same things like we do. So come, let us
all join hands together and prove that passion is the only thing required to give
the deserving ones wings to fly high.
