My Ripple Effect of Kindness
My class ended early yesterday so as soon as I got back to the hostel, the first thing I did was cleaning my room, swept and mopped the whole house and sorted everything out before I began doing my tons of tasks and assignments that have been piling up.
Then my good friend was thoughtful enough to send a message saying how I inspired her to always be generous to others, I almost shed tears when I read her long message.
How coincidence it is because I have decided to talk about the power of kindness for my persuasive speech as I am certain that the world is lack of compassion, sympathy and it needs more kind earthlings for a brighter future for us to live.
As I was doing my research a few days ago, I stumbled upon a statement that goes this way – if a person does something kind to someone, the outcome of good deeds that person did don't end there, instead, it will keep on going and going or better called as The Ripple Effect of Kindness. I've never thought that kindness has a positive chain that can be spread out to others and according to research, these ripple effects spread emotions such as love and compassion.
When I was little, I always see my late grandfather, Tok Bah always give his money to poor people and I wondered how was it possible for Tok Bah could give away his money easily to others. It doesn’t make sense at least to me, even if someone from the village wanted to borrow some money from him, he would give extra than what was asked.
He didn’t rigid his kindness to his race only yet he would gladly help some old Chinese uncles who were probably at the same age as his. I didn’t like people who came to us, begging for money and if there were any, Tok Bah would be the first one who handed money – RM10 or sometimes RM50 happily without thinking twice. To be honest, I wish I am that generous.
As I grow older, I finally understood, why my late grandfather loved to give without asking or hoping for a return, it is the contentment we feel inside after helping someone. Doing nice things for others will boost our serotonin, the neurotransmitter that responsible for feelings of satisfaction and well-being. It seems that while being kind makes us happier, being happier makes us kinder, too.
Research also has shown that spending extra money on other people may be more powerful in increasing happiness than spending it on yourself. I guess Tok Bah had released too many good hormones and I bet he felt happy that he went to bed every day without any worries because he knew he made someone else’s life easier even if it’s only with RM10. I miss him, always have and always will.
He once told us, if someone borrowed money from you and he/she hasn’t yet paid the money, then don’t ask the person when he/she going to pay back. I didn’t understand back then because why wouldn’t you ask, it’s our money after all. Rugilah nanti. Perhaps Tok Bah was a very considerate person as he won’t ask, and the reason behind is that maybe that person hasn’t had enough money yet so don’t ask.
It’s been 6 years since he left us forever, but my late paternal grandparents would remain forever in my heart. Now that I’m big enough to think, I have decided to continue what he had taught the whole family directly or indirectly. If there's one thing I am jealous of Tok Bah is his generosity and kindness towards everyone and everything
I couldn’t remember when was the first time I belanja any of my friends but I’m glad it happened and up till this the day I promised to myself that I would always spend some money for people around me. It doesn’t have to be every day, once in a while trying to pay for my friends’ meals, or ice-cream is sufficient enough.
My parents never allowed me to work, so I don’t have extra money for myself to waste on. Everything that I give people is fully sponsored by my parents and what I do is I allocate how much I would spend on my friends. For example, presents that I bought for my friends came from the savings that I started to save a few months prior.
Whenever I treat my friends for lunch or on any meals we had, honestly it wasn’t thank you that I wanted to hear, but how they would eat with such appetite made me happy. I didn’t know spending money on others would make us happy until I read it on an article. I will keep on giving because I believe kindness will come back around and it can be in the form of anything. Having good company is also a blessing that I would treasure.
I am so thankful that someone finally able to see why do I love to give so much, I won’t think twice especially on people I love. I can safely say I already have my own The Ripple Effect of Kindness because someone inspired with the good deeds I have been doing over the years and I hope that person can inspire someone else too and I believe she will.
Never scared of having less money if you spend extra money on others because Allah SWT has mentioned in Al-Quran,
Dan (ingatlah), Allah akan melipatgandakan pahala bagi sesiapa yang dikehendaki-Nya, dan Allah Maha Luas (rahmat) kurnia-Nya, lagi Meliputi ilmu pengetahuan-Nya. (Surah al-Baqarah, ayat 261)
You don’t know how many times I actually had not enough money left but I kept to myself, and never once I felt worried. Usually, if that were to happen, my friends who borrowed money from me would pay back during that time. Then I would have money again. It might sound ridiculous, but it happens to me every time I don’t have enough money. Indeed, no one can resist – Allah SWT’s sovereign will.
Let’s make this world a better place for living by spreading kindness and create your own The Ripple Effect of Kindness until yours reach mine and mine reaches yours. Even in tough times, be nice to others and above all be nice to yourself.
Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you. - Princess Diana
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