Every human being, of whatever origin, whatever station, deserves respect

Life is all about making choices. Whatever I am today, or whatever I was in the past or whoever I’ll be in the future, it all pivots on each point t which I decided what to be. Everyday as I go outside I witness most probably 10 episodes, and among those 10 episodes, 5 make me delighted to be a human and 5 embarrass me as to why am I a human. For example, when I see people begging for just a penny it makes me awful and apologetic because if I am a human, I should have the capability to help those in need. But at the same time when I see money in their bowls, it feels good because other people are at least helping them if not me. Once I was walking towards school and an old man came to me with a phone in his hand and said, “Please talk to my daughter and she’ll give you a number, just save that number on this phone.” I did, and although it wasn’t a big deal it made me happy. Another time I saw this woman struggling to fill her water bottle from the tap as there were many people in the line. I helped her and filled her bottle, she thanked me, it wasn’t a big deal either, but it gave me happiness and not just the ordinary satisfaction that I get by buying new clothes but genuine happiness that I felt in my chest. I then realised that I have to be proud to be human, even if I can’t help people financially that much (because I rely on my parents for that), but I can give emotional support to others or at least I can help them with little tasks.
We don’t know what real happiness means, we just keep looking for it in bigger things, or we keep working to get something we want in order to be happy one day, but happiness is not a destination, it’s a way of life. Small random acts of kindness can give you immense pleasure. I realised that we don’t need money to be good humans. We can spread smiles and we can smile, it is all free of cost. But again, being human disappoints me because we don’t value the things that are free of cost. Buying a luxury car gives us pleasure but it also takes a lot of money from our account. Helping a poor lady cross the road or offering a seat to someone elder takes just a kind heart and in return gives pure joy.
People often say that social media harms our lives, it often is fake, people on social media just show the good part of their life, so we end up envying them and wish to have a life like them. But that’s not entirely true. Some people show the good side of their story but most of them show the true part. When I see a video of someone having a luxurious car, house or life, I like it for some time and then forget about it the next day, but whenever I see someone being nice to others or whenever someone posts something good about humanity, it leaves a lasting effect on my mind. Rich people don’t make us wish to be rich so much but kind humans always push us to be a better human being. They make us want to love humanity and be proud of being human. Bad people can’t influence me to be bad but good people can influence me to be good. Gandhi ji once said, “You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops are dirty, it does not make the whole ocean dirty.”
You know, we keep saying that I am a Muslim, I am a Hindu or I am a Christian, and we are proud of it, of course. I am proud to be a Muslim but I’d be more proud to be a Muslim if I was a good human first. I was born as a human and therefore it is my responsibility to act like one. On Google we often search for how to be a doctor, how to be a writer or how to be a good fighter, but today I searched for how to be a good human being, because somehow I’ve lost sight of how to be one.
Choosing humanity means choosing yourself. So, love yourself, and be proud of your journey even if it’s not the best one. Sometimes accept your mistakes because it makes you a better person and most importantly, a happy person. If intentionally or unintentionally you hurt someone, apologise, because by hurting others, you’ll never be happy. Do whatever you can to help others, respect everyone, respect people for who they are. Every human being, of whatever origin, whatever station, deserves respect. It’s the biggest of all mistakes to do nothing because we can at least do a little. Let’s be a little more patient everyday, let’s not allow anger to control us , let’s try to be better and better everyday. Talk to each other, listen to each other, spread smiles, help others, love humanity, love each other. Being born as a human being doesn’t mean we can be counted among humans; we have to work for it like we work for other things.
We often fight for our religion, like we want the freedom to follow the path of our choice, we want to love the God that we truly believe in. Fighting for religion is a good thing, fighting for our rights is good, fighting for our faith is good, but fighting for humanity is something extraordinary. Whenever I see someone doing a good deed, my heart overwhelms with joy because it makes me believe that humanity exists. Sometimes I don’t want to be a good person, I don’t want to do good deeds, but I be anyone else but me, I can’t choose evil over good because something inside me always compels me to be a better person, a better human being. Honestly, Humanity is the biggest religion that we all need to follow. I can’t be a good Muslim if I am not a good human.

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Shafiya Showkat