After four years of having left school life behind and having gone through various phases, I realised that there are lot of things which school never taught us, but which are essential nevertheless. I regret not having proper knowledge and only academic education limited to random books and notebooks. School never taught us about the joy of helping others, cooperating with others, sharing happiness and sacrificing for others.
In fact, in my own school life, I was once made fun of when I mentioned in a story I was narrating that the narrator gave his lunch box to poor man near the street light in the school campus. I was in Class 7 and I felt so bad, but I also knew this was the right thing we humans should do. I never spoke anything in class for a long time.
But, this is not only the one thing, but there are more things which school never taught us but in other countries it is taught. Some of these important things are:
Thinking About Others
School never taught us to think about others. Even when becoming a part of the group activity, our focus was just to gain more marks, do more work just for ourselves so that we get more marks than other group members. Even while being in a group, each one of us have different strategy going in the background. Everyone wants to win just for themselves and nobody wanted their group to win as a whole. This attitude made us selfish, and impatient.
Social Activities And Participation
In all the social activities, we were never taught about helping others in real life. It was just to teach some lessons and chapters and that too also in big, well-known schools. Nowadays, few schools are moving towards teaching students about this but still it’s not going to make any changes as it is very limited.
Financial Planning And Creative Activities
In school, we were never told how to do financial planning. The only extension of learning finances was to manage our parents’ money and buy books and stationery items. Yes, books and stationery items were seen as enough to inculcate financial responsibility.
Respecting The Disadvantaged
Take a moment to think how our school, society and environment treat the poor? How do people around you talk to rickshaw walas and roadside hawkers? The way they treat them gets carried forward to young children and they think this is the only right way to treat them. Sometimes, teachers should organise some group activities just for the purpose of learning and not for assigning homework. Sometimes, parents should teach their children manners.
Now, let’s discuss how we can help anyone in need:
Buying Them Food: sometimes buying someone food, say a thali, or fast food can be the biggest help for someone. It won’t cost us much, and it can be a lifesaver for many people. So, the next time you see anyone hungry, make sure you buy them something and pass your happiness along as well.
Tipping Generously: tipping generously is an appropriate and sensitive way of showing your appreciation for someone else’s hard work. Besides, it establishes a chain of happiness!
Volunteer: you can identify organisations and businesses which genuinely help the economically disadvantaged and volunteer with them. This will make sure you use your time well and will help you experience the joy of helping people.
Now, before you plan to do this, beware of fake publicity stunts and actions undertaken only for social media views.
Notify Authorities About Suspicious Activities: there are lot of international organisations and government departments who are actively working to remove injustice. Your small effort will help them in helping others. Therefore, whenever you see any illegal practice going on, you can quickly inform the respective department about it.
Lift And Encourage: sometimes having a conversation, support and direction will help them work in the right way. This may sound odd but this is the best thing to, which I personally recommend. Your words in times of difficulty may help them move in the right direction where they can stand on their own two feet.
In fact, even helping someone invest in a small investment or business can be of immense help to them!
Thanks for reading till here. It was great to see you give your time, because most of us don’t wish to help others, because we are so used to only thinking about ourselves. But, I hope we can make small changes each day. Happy helping. 🙂