Sympathy-mongers and…

A few days back, I was riding a bike to my University. When I came to a crossroads on my way, I saw three people, a man, a woman, probably his wife, and a small kid, maybe their son. They were pulling a handcart sort of thing full of rags and trash. The man was pulling it from the front and the other two were pushing it from the back and they were trying to get it to the other side of a six-lane road during peak traffic hours! And because it was office hours, the traffic was ablaze and furious. So they were not able to get a window, small enough so that they can get through the crossing.

I saw all this as I was approaching the crossing and when I reached the crossing, where these people were still struggling with their handcart and the never-ending traffic. I was in a hurry. Instead of just letting them go by changing my lane or slowing down, I blew the horn and whizzed past them. These people are used to such abuses and didn’t react. When I went past them, I saw them in the rearview mirror, still there and hadn’t even reached the middle of the road. People were still abusing them with their horns and their speed, just the way I did a few moments earlier.

While seeing them in the mirror, I was guilt-ridden. I felt pity for them and because of my inhuman act, I was feeling less of a human. I felt like I could have stopped and let them pass. But I didn’t. I blamed myself for that. That person who was pulling the handcart or that lady or the kid, who didn’t have proper clothes to wear didn’t come to me with their grief-stricken story of poverty and helplessness. I could easily see their sorrows and problems. And because they didn’t beg for pity and sympathy, I was moved by their condition.

These are the first kind of people who arise sympathy in you.

They don’t speak. But their condition, which you can see, does the job and that sympathy is worth working upon. It will give you immense joy to uplift such people because they don’t demand sympathy.

The next kind people are those who demand sympathy. They pretend to be the most pitiful creatures on earth and their sole aim is to gain sympathy. They don’t need sympathy but it makes them feel good to have people sympathizing with them. They are called sympathy-mongers. They love to make others do their work by arising sympathy for them. These people remain mediocre and can’t do much in life.

For both the kinds of people, their work is done by others initially. But the first ones, after getting a head start can do wonders. The other ones, they remain mediocre and remain the way they were!