"Quarter Percent Club"

"Quarter Percent Club"..
                            .

'Practice before you Preach' After reading this blog, you may ask me "Are you practicing this by the way?" The answer is "Yes". I have been following this for a while now and i didn't find much difficulty while doing so. Now i have more clarity, so the blog.

Sometime back, when I saw a mail from HR asking to help security personnel who are working in our organisation for providing better education for their children, I thought how many would actually participate in this. I have seen people talking closely to security people and we were not sure how many of them would have actually come forward to help their cause. I was on an onsite assignment. I contributed some part of my salary and the response I got from my Manager and HR proved that not many have extended their help. So I started thinking what is the problem with people who have more than enough to live a comfortable life but still so much reluctant to give away very little part of their own. If I tell this to people, they will ask "How do you define comfortable life?" "How do you know you have more than enough in your life?". Those are very valid questions. Even I don't have answers for that.

Let me tell you a story. We met a farmer who lives in village about 70 miles away from Bangalore.

We had heard about him couple of times in Radio and print media. He is an expert in organic farming. We spoke to him and got an appointment to meet him. We had some kind of perception about him. We reached his farm and one man who was working outside the farm gate greeted us and let us in. The same man who greeted us outside came to us and introduced himself. I was shocked to know he is the same man whom we wanted to meet. He took us to show  his farm and happily told his life experience. How he got into this profession. And he said he is leading very comfortable life with small earning from farming because he is less dependent on labors and spent only on the things which are most needed for him. I doubted and i asked him more questions.

I wanted to know his priorities in life. So he told his daily routines, what they eat, what they wear, their earnings, their spending and his family. It seemed very true. In spite of that he has opened an free hostel for people who are eager to learn organic farming. He provides food, stay and education. I saw one girl who is in her early 20s from North India settled with this old man. She met him in a meeting and got inspired, packed her things and left her home and started living with him after her graduation. Now both are working on a documentary on the process of organic farming.

I am telling you this story because when a farmer who is earning very minimal has courage and eager to do something good for our society, then why not us? What is pulling us back? When a person like Mr. Kalayanasundaram who worked as a librarian can spend all of his earnings to help the needy and worked as a server in a hotel to meet his own needs, why can't we who is earning in lakhs think so much before contributing little of ours back to the society? The main reason for this is we are less organised. We don't know exactly how much we should contribute and how much we can spend on social cause. We really not sure what exactly is our responsibility. 

Why are we like this? Are we so blind and can't see any route to come out of this Chakravyuh of selfish life? Has darkness of our own needs have covered us completely? Why are we so eager to spend on gifts, parties etc on those who are already leading more privileged life, but think hundred times before spending on social causes?

So i started thinking how much can we offer help to the needy. I started with one percent of what we have. This includes time , money, love, care, knowledge and so on. But if i tell the same to people to do so. Then many of them might think the percentage is bit higher. After putting more thoughts into this, i could not come below 0.25%.

Lets start with Money. If I consider a person is earning 10000 Rs a month. So 0.25 percent of his/her earning comes to 25 Rs a month and 300 Rs a year. That is a pretty small but effective share when more and more people join hands together. But if you see here, you are sharing only 0.25 percent of what you are earning. Remaining 99.75% i.e., in this example 9975 Rs will be spent on your personal need. Can't we offer such a little share of our earning to the needy?

Coming to the time, 0.25% of 365 days comes to 21.9 hours. No body can say they can't take out less than a day from their time every year. It is less than the average time we spend in temples. It is much less than of time we spend watching TV, being active on social sites like Facebook or chatting on Whatsapp.

I have seen people telling me that they find it difficult to pass time in holidays. But never consider utilizing time this way.

As love and care cannot be weighed or calculated, i can say if we are showering so much of care and love on our family and friends. Can't we share little bit with people who are not so privileged to have one.

Can't we use more environmental friendly transportation in 0.25 percent of our total travel. Use non-plastic and more re-cycled things. Can't we spend little time to make sure that all electric appliances are switched off and unplugged when they are not in use.

"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Can't we share 0.25 percent of our knowledge to those who can't offered to learn.

 

I say, we certainly can, but won't do. Why? This is sheer negligence towards causes in society. Many of us have not experienced the real joy of giving. Many of us have not seen happy faces at receiving end. When i sent mail to few of my good

friends couple of years back asking for them to lend monetary help for people who suffered in floods, i got overwhelming response. Within no time money started flowing into my bank account. From that money we offered a house to the needy through a trusted organisation in Mysore. The response was very surprising and inspiring. Since then i had always brought my friends under one platform but with more organised way this time. Not just helping others, but having fun while doing so.

This is just a initiative. This will take shape accordingly with your active or passive participation, your kind and valuable suggestions and guidance. I have created a Facebook account with our club name. Kindly join us if you are really interested and committed.

With Love,

RD