Everyday when I leave the parking, I keep some change readily available for those deprived eyes that are waiting anxiously for a car to stop, to give him a penny, to soothe his sores.

Yes, he is a poor man who can’t walk properly, looks lean and thin and probably counting the last few days of his life. I often wonder; what is the propinquity between us that makes me feel so uncomfortable when I see him in pain, when I see him distressed. What is the proximity that makes me so restless if I don’t see him for few days. I thought and thought and concluded that this is nothing but empathy towards our fellow beings.

In today’s world where we all are racing towards some pre-defined but invisible goals, we don’t see many of us having empathy towards each other. We are rather moving towards an apathetic world.

But why?? Why have we become so self-centric? Why have we become so indifferent towards the feeling of others? Probably because we all are in a hurry to reach our targets, we are in a hurry to win the race of life. This is alarming! Truly this is alarming. This is the time to give a pause. It’s the time to molt our selfish skin and regenerate a newer and rather selfless personality.

It’s the time! The correct time; and there could be no better timing than the month of Ramadan. Ramadan is the best timing to take few steps towards building a better world.

“Ramadan” is the holy month celebrated by Muslims, significantly described as the month to fast and abstain from food from dawn to dusk. Abstaining from food is just the physical interpretation of the holy month. In fact, there is much more to offer during this month. It is the month to abstain from any immoral activity, a month to divulge your real self to god, a month to practice humanity.

And yes …. Humanity has no religion. So by that norm Ramadan has a social significance also, and thus can be celebrated beyond the religious boundaries. As a non-muslim, one may surely not fast, but could indeed join the celebration by abstaining from immorality, celebrate the month by practicing humanity.

So, this Ramadan, let us join hands together, irrespective of our religion and take a step towards the social well-being of people around us. Let us all knock the doors of our inner selves, let’s step out of our own shell and start thinking broader. Let’s start looking around us, let’s do some small deeds, some genuine favours that might bring a spark in some dull dying eyes.

These deeds could be as small as showing some gratitude to the sweeper whom we see almost every morning and pass by without even noticing him. It could be as small as giving a surprise day-off to our domestic helper, as courageous as picking up the phone and apologizing to a colleague whom we might have intentionally or unintentionally hurt sometime in the past.

This deed of humanity could be visiting a nearby orphanage and spending time with the children and making them feel special, this deed could be as noble as providing medical assistance to a financially distressed person, this deed could be a mesmerizing experience to see the smile on the face of our old parents after taking them for a short vacation, this deed could be the wonderful feeling of freeing our birds from the cage.

This deed could be as simple as controlling our anger and spending a day living happily and spreading happiness.

There are enormous acts of selfless love and compassion towards our fellow beings, enormous ways of providing support to the economically distressed, enormous gestures to reflect our respect for others, enormous methods that can be adopted to show our care for the nature, enormous measures to make this world a wonderful one.

Only what is missing is the motivation to take the first step. So this Ramadan, let’s inspire ourselves and cherish the moment when we join the celebration of humanity. We might not be able to turn the tables around overnight, but step by step we will surely progress towards a better and adoring world.

Nazneen Ali Wagpura, Member of The Writer's Forum Kuwait