This Is What I Believe In

I believe in Goodness. Virtue. Modesty. Rectitude. There's an almost endless list of words that are synonymous to Goodness. But is the list of the names mentioning the human versions of Goodness, equally endless? Your opinions might differ, but I believe it is. Considering the fact that all of us, the proud residents of planet Earth, have golden dust of Goodness sprinkled over our little, palm-sized hearts.

For some, Goodness might just be a simple, forgetful word that might've lost its way somewhere in the universe, depriving planet Earth of its rapturous benefits. Or a few others might look at it as an elderly man, sick and tired of the world's blaring, frenzied cruelty, lying on his deathbed as the clock ticks right beside him and clinging on to life only for the sake of a few close ones who claim to have loved and believed in him all the way through. Well, for me, Goodness is a living entity that lives right within us. It's there inside, trying to awaken our soul and train the mind to perform nothing but good deeds. It's just that those layers of worldly desires, greed, enmity, egoism and betrayal form a chock-a-block pile, tampering the Goodness that now lies buried deep under. The diaphanous yet undaunted Goodness makes all efforts to swim back to the top, but the hefty, tenacious stock keeps piling up, preventing the exceedingly worthy Goodness from enthroning itself.

"There's a better chance of seeing a camel pass through the eye of a needle than reviving Goodness that is now dead meat." That is what the prophets of doom enunciate in various languages with a rather harried smirk every time we indulge in a tête-à-tête about aversions towards certain negative traits found in beings that surround us. I'd rather state that the protruding abscess that takes refuge in such mentality about Goodness being 'dead meat' would be recuperated only when one rediscovers one's own Goodness and fosters it while lending the others a hand towards the glorifying world of Goodness.

A factor I believe might have deterred a few from engaging themselves into those little acts of Goodness would be the unwritten rule in high school - Being Good is totally not cool. I find it rather strange. How does helping a victim of bullying or maybe morally supporting a convalescing addict, make someone uncool? Maybe the pores of ignorance towards Goodness might've opened right in our early days.

I've come across people who openly worship Goodness through their little acts of kindness. I believe kindness is pretty much contagious. Sowing a seed of kindness would definitely yield even more seeds in the future. In an encounter with a generous lady who was kind enough to lend me her seat in a dreadfully crowded train in Mumbai, I learned that kindness never fails to impress one's soul. Before that episode, never had I even let the idea of offering my seat to someone come into my very tactless mind. I would forever be grateful to the benignant soul who opened my eyes then.

At times, I've observed that people often cast a shadow of doubt on a person who puts on display excessive Goodness. Of course, there are many who only exhibit a lovely mask of Goodness, but behind the mask lie the most unscrupulous of intentions. These 'noble' individuals do nothing but tarnish the trust we hold for the honest, laudable messiahs who never let anything exert influence on their pristine Goodness. Take for example the recent encounter we had with a pleasing man when we were on a vacation in London. It so happened that we were thoroughly lost in the alien land. He assisted us in every possible way with sheer enthusiasm. Inevitably, out of experience, doubt did creep into our minds. But after quite some time, his guilelessly sparkling eyes and his tender tone evinced nothing but his unadulterated and genuine intentions. Today, the philanthropic man is now a part of the list of our highly esteemed friends.

Kindness is just a part of this colossal concept of Goodness. Several such concepts have collectively given birth to this mammoth abstraction. Be it respectability, love, benevolence, sympathy, warmth or clemency, human beings have it all. It has now been left to us to reclaim our Goodness and crown it with a wide smile. Only then will it rule our hearts and that of a million others. Only then will humans realize their true selves. Only then will we devote ourselves towards the welfare of our fellow humans. Only then, will the world be a better place to live in :)