Tens. Hundreds. Thousands. Walk past like there is nothing but dust. When I was in fifth grade, I traveled to my home country, India. Such a natural and beautiful country; however, it wasn’t perfect. But if I am going to tell this right, we have to start at the beginning. We land at the Ahmedabad airport and we got to the baggage claim and to our surprise we couldn’t find our bags. A couple of people saw us react to this event and they felt compassionate and helped out in finding our bags we end up finding our bags. Just show a little bit of compassion.
We go to my grandparent’s house and I quickly notice the change of scenery. It goes from being a nice town to a very dusty rural environment. I remember having to wear a face mask to avoid inhaling unclean air. The poverty was displayed everywhere from the homeless to the trash piles lying outside on the roads. We finally arrive at my grandparents’ and we see trash outside of this building and we head inside paying attention to everything. You can see the clothes hung up on the railings of the stairs. We go to our grandparent’s room and settle in. We then hear a knock on the door. It is a man with a bucket and it is filled with milk. Due to sanitary reasons, we didn’t buy any milk, but honestly, my family would have just shut the door and went on with our day. But in actuality, my grandfather gave the man 20 rupees and I wondered why. My grandfather then told me, “Always help others because that man is selling milk to provide milk for his family.” This made me think about all the moments in which we passed the homeless back in America. He told me, “We never know what other people are going through. Just show a little bit of compassion.”
After the milkman left we went to the nearest temple and went to go pray. We take a rickshaw to the temple and really got a true culture shock. We see cattle. We see dogs. We see sheep. Casually roaming the streets and everything so natural. We made it to the temple and we helped out with work over there. We ate prayed and then we were ready to go at night. While walking to a rickshaw we see a homeless person and what my grandfather said before doesn’t register in my mind. I quickly got into the rickshaw wanting to go home due to exhaustion. My grandfather had another idea. He went up to the homeless person and gave some of our dinner to him to eat. A constant act of kindness lies in my grandfather’s everyday life. Just show a little bit of compassion.
We get back home and we head to the showers. Our water in nice and warm but it isn’t like the showers we have in America. You would have to fill a bucket of water up and then use a cup to pour the water on to your body to take a shower. While taking my shower I introspected on what I had witnessed that day. My grandfather did not have to think to give money or food to those in need. It was a constant part of his life and I was inspired by it. We head to bed and in India, it is really hot. I can feel my body heat up so I quickly throw off my blanket. That isn’t enough. I try to cool myself down by blowing air onto my body but I still feel very hot. My grandfather sees this and gets up in the middle of the night and goes to find a fan for me. Not worrying about his sleep schedule or the cost of electricity. Just show a little bit of compassion.
The sun rises and that marks the start of the next day and we have a whole day planned out. We get into our driver’s car, who we have rented for the rest of our trip, and head down to my uncle’s parents’ house. We see the change of scenery once again. It goes from a very poverty based environment to a very nice town. We see kids play. We see monkeys climb. We see people work. Such a beautiful place. My dad then spots someone and eagerly calls for his name. To our surprise, it is my dad’s elementary school best friend and former dorm mate in college. We go to his house and he and my dad catch up from all the time they have not seen each other. To my luck, I get to play with his kid and we head towards the fields to play cricket. We started to talk about our two different worlds and lifestyles. It was fun but we still had to go to my uncle’s house. So we say goodbye and promise to hang out during our visit. We head for their house and we finally arrive. We instantly see my cousin’s grandmother walking with crutches. We go inside and they talk about their misfortune and how they have been getting hurt and how they live their lives sadly. I then see the father walk out and wonder what he is doing. He is smoking. I don’t ask the mother why but it definitely stayed in my mind. We left the house and as soon as I got into the car I started to sob for them. I couldn’t stand the fact that they had such sad lives and I learned from my parents that he wants to quit smoking but he just can’t because he is so addicted. I decide to tell my parents to get nicotine gum which would help him quit. Just show a little bit of compassion.
I explore India more throughout those days and go back home. I see things differently and in my life. A paradigm shift occurred. Every single street we drive down I look for homeless people. Every single street we drive down I look for trash piles. Every single street we drive down I look for a milkman in dire need of money. We go on through our days forgetting how truly fortunate we are and instead spend it on living our lives and being caught up with ourselves. Tens. Hundreds. Thousands. I was one of those people walking past like there was nothing but dust but there was a human there. I was one of those people forgetting about others. My grandfather used to always say “who’s a jolly good fellow” and I now understand that he was the jolly good fellow. My grandfather passed away on December 5th, 2017 and he left an everlasting message and impact on my life. He gave me a completely different outlook on life itself, showing me to understand and care for others that need that it. He taught me to just to show a little bit of compassion.
Akshar Patel
Eagle Club President
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