“The Joy of sharing” is something I was supposed to teach my 1st and 2nd grade students in the school. After my initial check-ins in the class, I asked them “What do you mean by sharing?”. They talked about sharing their pencils, snacks, eraser, toys etc. Some of the students said that
“We don’t even like sharing our toys because we are sacred that it might break.”
Hmm…so here I am, with students who were afraid of losing their stuff while sharing. That is when I recollected a beautiful story I saw recently…
There was an 8 year old boy named Arjun in a village, whose parents died long ago, staying with his grandparents. The grandparents were able to take care of Arjun’s basic needs. One day Arjun was sitting near the river and he found a 50 rupees note. He looked around but no one was there so he decided to pick it up and pocket it. With the 50 rupees note in hand, Arjun started dreaming about visiting the fair and buying chocolates, ice creams and all kinds of treats for himself. Arjun went to fair and decided to enjoy some rides before buying an ice cream. When Arjun was standing in the queue for the ride, he saw a girl playing with a ball. There was a nearby tea stall run by an old lady. Suddenly, the ball went and hit the teacups in the stall. The old lady got angry at first but decided to say nothing to the girl and started cleaning up the broken glass pieces.
Arjun saw the whole incident standing there in a queue. He started wondering , how this old lady will serve tea to her customers without the teacups, lost in thought for a moment. Arjun saw a shop nearby and bought teacups using the 50 rupees forgetting about all his dreams of rides and treats. Without the old lady’s knowledge, he went and put the teacups in the shop. Arjun hid behind the tree to see the old lady’s reaction. When the old lady saw the glasses, she looked around found no one. She looked up and smiled! Arjun saw that smile and smiled with the joy he experienced at that moment.
The joy was much more than what the rides and treats could have given him.
“With much rejoice he realized, this is The Joy of Sharing.”
There was a complete silence in the class for a moment. Aha moments for my students!
They understood that we experience this joy of sharing when we go beyond thinking about ourselves and help others, even if it means we forego what we like the most.
Join hands with Armour of care (AOC) and experience the joy of sharing with those like the old lady who need it most.
Click on the image below to donate and share:
Post written by Chaitali Shroff,Co-founder, Holistic Education and Adaptive Learning(HEAL) Foundation
Story Source and Credits:
Comments