Service above Self: My Hope

“Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.”- Albert Einstein.
What Albert Einstein said is so true! Everyone lives but those who do something beyond what a normal does is who actually lives a truly meaningful life. I have heard people comment so many times that a man’s first loyalty and love should be for themselves. But that is something that a human is born with. Yes, many a times that love for yourself is broken and needs to be repaired but speaking for the majority every man is fond of himself. What is self? The person himself with all his pleasures, joy, sorrows, and all emotions constitute the self. We all do services for ourselves and for even that want something in return. Like, if we try to remain healthy it is so that we look good or remain free of pain. This shows that whatever we do is always for something in return, even from our own body. A man is intrinsically selfish but, that is probably because man knows only himself best. Since they are aware about their faults and their good qualities they spend their entire life improving the ‘self’. Continuing on this path, a phase arrives when they become an isolated island and get trapped in the vicious cycle of themselves.
Service above self is moving out of the isolated island, looking beyond and ‘seeing’ other people. The idea of living for yourself is warped. Every man is a part of a huger cosmic design. It is for a human to appreciate his place in the whole world and to find the role he has been bestowed with to play in this blueprint of life. Every man is a link in this long chain and the failure of one man can affect the whole chain of life. Also the work done by one man has an effect on the lives of every man in his vicinity and beyond. This is like when a stone is thrown in a pond and the first ripple creates further ripples in the water. We have to understand that the world is infinitely big. People can use this excuse to rid themselves of the guilt of working just for themselves saying that one man cannot change the world. But, like many atoms make a molecule and many molecules then make nature we humans together make the world. Every man can make a difference and if everyone of us do that all those differences will change the world for the better. ‘ Service above self’ is the only way by which the world will be rid of all the problems we face today and we of the we have found ourselves in.
We humans have lost the ability to understand subtleties! Paulo Coelho has forever preached in his books that Nature is always giving us signs which we are unable to pick up on. Flowers bloom spreading happiness and wonder with the its vibrancy of colours and with soft scents pleasant memories are revived once again. Trees grow providing us with the chief source of energy, oxygen without which human existence would not be possible. Can you imagine a life without tasting the juicy flavours of fruits? Have these miracles of Nature ever asked for a fee for giving us happiness or making us laugh? They have been selfless in their benevolence. But, every little act we perform is entered into our memory data so that in the near future we can extract a reward for the effort. Probably, Nature is the only altruistic being left on this Mother Earth. William Wordsworth has said that Nature is the best teacher and we can learn to ‘care’ from Nature.
While one does have to care for oneself too that should occupy only one-half of ones life. The rest of a person’s life should be spent in living for other people, thinking of other people’s welfare more than ones own, even if it means putting yourself at a disadvantage. Sounds hard? Yes, it does sound hard but really how hard is it to devote a few hours every day thinking beyond oneself. No one can motivate someone to care for other, that has to come from within. It should be pure and devoid of selfish goals.