HOPE
“Sometimes, just by being who we are, we become Someone’s hope.”
I got convinced by this fact recently. It was a sunny and dry day of May, when I was coming back home from university, I took an Auto Rickshaw and the driver was an old man in his sixties. He was a really kind person and, while talking, he told me his story, that one day his daughters asked him to bring mangoes on his way back home. He loved his daughters so much that he couldn’t refuse them. But that day he didn’t earn much, and when he was about to go home, someone took a ride in his rickshaw and upon reaching their destination, they paid him extra without him asking for it. He said that he was shocked and happy at the same time because now he could take mangoes for his daughters.
Get Hashma Shahzad Ahmad’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
That day I realized how as an individual we become a source of hope for someone in our everyday lives without knowing. The same principal has been applied by many great people who spent their entire lives working for others. Abdul Sattar Edhi Sahab and Dr. Amjad Saqib Sahab are among them. Volunteering for their great cause felt like standing with them side by side, watching the world through their lens, sympathzing with every soul in front of us. One change I felt in me was that I stopped thinking about my problems as they seemed trivial in front of the sufferings people are facing out there. It also helped me to be more greatful for what I have. When you develop this mind set, nothing in your possession feels personal; you want to share everything with others as Dr. Amjad Saqib Sahab says “Jo rab ka h wo sab ka h”.
While reaching out to people, I was nervous at first because, as humans we are always afraid of being judged. But when you are working for a greater cause, these things don’t matter. I received positive responses from many people and appreciation texts, but at the same time, disappointment lingered at some doors. Then I remembered Edhi sahab standing under the scorching sun on the road, not willing to give up on humanity and the people around him. As he used to say “it’s because of my principle that people continue to give”, I took this thought with me before knocking every door.
Perhaps that is what it means to be a source of hope: to keep showing up, even when the response is not always what we expect. We may never know how much our smallest acts of kindness mean to someone, but that should never stop us from trying. After all, sometimes, all it takes to make someone believe in humanity again is for another person to simply care.
