You must
have heard “No good deed goes unpunished”. And it is a normal thing that human
brain tends to remember negative things more than the positive ones. So, have
you ever heard, “No good deed ever goes unrewarded”? Yes, you must have,
somewhere, but must not remember it very clearly, because it is also a common
tendency of us humans to ignore all good that has happened and remember for a
long time all bad that has been done to them, forget all rewards and remember
all punishments. But I say, “All good deeds get rewarded by one means or the
other, irrespective of our realization of it”. Yes it is true! And I can prove
it to you. Whatever good we do never goes in vain. It might feel like this is
just a thing to say and doesn’t really happen. It just seems to us that nothing
good is happening to us in return for whatever good we are doing or have done.
But the reality is that it is just that whatever we do, good or bad, keeps
getting stored and sometimes we get the return for it when we are not at all
expecting it. Sometimes, helping a blind old man to cross the road, a little
kid to solve his puzzle, helping your mother to make the food, just letting
your little sister write on the postcard to your grandpa, using your pocket
money to buy a poor kid some food, sharing a chocolate with your friend, all
this seems to be very little to be noticed, and very less to be of help to
someone. But not always what we think is true. Sometimes what we think is of no
or little use turns out to be the biggest available help to someone.
Have you
ever thought how your little piece of advice works wonders for someone you
barely know and who hardly expects anything coming from a stranger like you?
How can something so little and so unexpected help him in such a great way? The
reason is just that we do not notice small things that we do, and that matter
more than bigger things at times. The things we sometimes think are useless
turn out to be the most useful of all, and the ones we think are the most
useful turn out to be the most fruitless of all. It is just like a pinch of
cinnamon added to grape vine, the one pinch that we think won’t at all affect
the drink, but when we drink it we get to know what the cinnamon was capable of
doing! This is only because we never know the taste of the drink until we have
a sip. Or like a tinge of white in red makes it
pink, but when we see the white alone, we cannot see the pink that it is
capable of making, we cannot see the real colour until we actually mix the two.
But whatever noticed or unnoticed, the cinnamon in the vine and the white in
the pink never get wasted, they always manage to leave their own mark wherever
they are used. For even Saint Basil has said, “A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never
lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers
love”.
It
is all true! But sometimes, out of the frustration of always seeming to get
something negative or bad in return, or the disappointment that life gives to
us instead of so many good deeds that we have done, we begin to think there is
nothing like getting good in return for whatever good we have done, it is all a
lie, an illusion, and Shakespeare, Saint Basil, Vincent Van Gogh, all were just
writing about good deeds in order to sell their words! And it is natural, to
get such thoughts, and it is not easy to overcome them as well, but it is essential
to avoid them in order to save ourselves from the negativity that stops us from
doing the good. Because it is anyway not that great to stop living for the fear
of dying! So why stop doing something good for the fear of not getting anything
in return?? The good deed itself turns bad the moment we start thinking of the
benefits or the return we would be getting out of it. The more we think of
getting something, the more we are driven away from it, the lesser we expect
something to happen, the more it is driven toward us. This is a fact, though it
has no evidence, everyone must have noticed it once at least. It is just like
the more you wait for your order in a restaurant, the more time it takes and
the more you are indulged in talking and chit chatting or playing games the
lesser time it seems to take for your order to reach you. It is just a matter
of expectation. Expectation, the root of all misery, the mother of all pains,
expectation. Thus, we say, the lesser we expect, the more we get, and after
all, a good deed is good only until one does not expect any return from it. In
short, only a selfless deed is a good deed and a good deed, in turn, never goes
fruitless!
So,
a selfless deed, which means a good deed, never goes unrecognized, unrewarded
or unnoticed. Where, being recognized or rewarded does not always mean to be
known or rewarded by humans who are benefited by the deed, but by GOD himself.
We need to understand that our deeds, good or bad, do not only make and break
our own self, our life, they also are responsible for the creation and
destruction of the world as a whole. So we must realize the fact that whatever
good or bad we do affect the world around us. Whenever we do something good or
bad, we work on a sea saw of good and bad that balances and imbalances the
world. So when we do something good, we make the world a better place to live
in, and when we do something evil, we take a step towards its destruction. So
there’s a fair deal of expecting a reward and thus quitting on doing good
things, and doing only good without expecting anything and understanding that
we have paved way for the betterment of the world. And what is a bigger and
more satisfying reward for anyone than the feeling of making the world a better
place, of returning the world back what it has given to us! There is nothing
else that can make us happier than this, and not reward bigger than this in
return for a good deed.
So
as I said in the beginning, no good deed goes in vain, just keep doing what you
think is right, help people, make sad people smile, share your excess, work
towards the betterment of the poor, give, love, understand, smile, pray,
live….and never expect! For what you are going to get in the end, is worth all
the pains you take for any good you do! Just as I said, the lesser you expect,
the more you get! Be happy, smile. For even a smile you give to a little baby,
or even a piece of bread you give to a poor child, a hug you give to an old
friend, a lift you offer to someone in need, a call you make to your parents
every week is a part of what you give back to the world in return for letting
you enjoy the beauty of it! Do good, be good, feel good!
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