Show ‘Empathy’, not Sympathy to the Marginalized: Message from the Joy of Giving Week

An aspirant doctor was disappeared two years ago, when 12-year old Ramesh left home shattering his dreams in Anugul to find a new family in the Maharshi Dayananda Balashram, near Dhenkanal-Cuttack National Highway, some 90 kilometers away from Bhubaneswar. Like other 100 children there, Ramesh is always seen cheerful, ambitious and curious. He has no regret for what he is today.

Ramesh has been made to realize the hard realities of life at the tender age. He is rebuilding his shattered dreams. He does not want to become a doctor. He aspires to become a police officer and work for the social distressed. Perhaps, he was anguished at his mother’s mental trauma after her husband; an auto driver left home and did not bother to return. The economic hardship compelled the mother to send Ramesh to the Orphanage.

“I want to become a police officer to put the anti-socials behind the bar”, says a determined Ramesh when asked about his aim in life. He reacts sharply at the words like orphan, deprived and oppressed.

He continued, “Here (in Orphanage), I have my family, brothers, sisters and teachers. I get everything needed for a basic life.” Why should I complain before God, he asks?

His sparkling eyes, wiry body, inquisitive mind and a unique sense of humor have motivated me to draw some inspirations from the God’s Child towards life.

Like Ramesh, there are millions of children in India, who are neglected or abandoned by their parents due to some reasons or others. For them, we as a part of the intellectual elite have a great responsibility. And that is pouring in our ‘Empathy’, not Sympathy. This is one of the greatest lessons I have learnt from the God’s special children when I spent the entire day with them in the Orphanage as part of the Joy of Giving Week celebration.

We can not help the marginalized by discouraging or disturbing the privileged. Neither we can empower them by just showing our sympathy through donations, nor we can bring them to the mainstream through government schemes (They are many, infact). What is urgently needed is our empathy, a sense of kinship and solidarity towards the marginalized.