Spirit of Humanitarianism

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Mahatma Gandhi​

Life is insignificant if we are solely considering our self. We are born, we live and we will die this is a cycle we all are following. We are given with life and we make it meaningful with our own perspectives. Humans exist to help each other. Life can be a better place if we share our love for others, share our happiness with them. It was the cold, icy winter midnight when they were sharing Blankets to the street beggars. A poor man, in a miserable condition, has no roof nor has an own place to take a rest in the bone floating winter. He did not have a warm cloth to cover up and lay on the roadside when the city sleeps in peace. The footpath is his house, begging is existence, mosquitoes and flies are family members. During the winter night, neither he could sleep nor could sit for the chilliness of weather. When they covered a warm blanket, he cried and prayed for them. They made a wonderful act of kindness, Human beings are like that...

 Humanity is the essence and core meaning of our existence as the human. It is the quality of being humane, benevolence or generous. Service to humanity is the desire to do great things or attempts to help the poor. The existence of humanity can be seen through this idea that Allah created all the souls from the descendants of Adam and Eve, all humans are one soul and regardless of caste, color, and creed, humans belong to one family. If we consider this concept of oneness, the world would be in peace. Humans are created as a roof and crown for the rest of the creation, so they are supposed to the kind of work the man expected to do. Islam demands the good privilege to help the underprivileged in competing for the needs of life.

 There is no hard and fast rule to become a lover of humanity. We can say this idea is embedded in our nature. One becomes a true humanist when he falls for other’s happiness. Being human does not mean one is possessing the element of humanity, rather it is to distinguish themselves from the rest with their kind approach towards another. Humanity is not about getting name, fame, nobility, that is what you can easily achieve it by doing anything, but humanity is about inner peace and satisfaction, by doing humanity, you feel a pinch from your inner soul, and that is the whole gist of your work. For Humanity, heart and mind go along, for instance; Jumping out of a car and giving a few pennies to the old Pomegranate seller is humanity.Thinking for your Maid as your daughter is humanity and listening to someone’s sad tale is humanity.

 Everyone wishes for his own happiness. Do things and plan them in s certain way to make his life more beautiful. We prefer to invest in a business and buying the smartphone, but not in feeding the hungry. We dream of wealth, we dream of happiness, but we could never step down and helping those who are in need. We can willingly be paying thousands of bucks for our self but when it comes to others, then we want to save every single penny. To go beyond one’s own self and work for other’s welfare and cause is called social service. Life is full of such wonderful personalities, who had suffered a lot at the expense of nothing but other’s happiness. They left the comfort of their lives and preferred to live for the adoration of others. Among them, Edhi and Ruth Pfau are most important. They are the charisma, who worked desperately in order to empower Pakistan to stand against all odds.  

Abdul Sattar Edhi following his slogan “no religion is higher than humanity”, set a powerful example of the title ‘lover of humanity’. Under Edhi's provision, thousands of Pakistani’s fed schooled and nursed each day, regardless of their religion, social class, and creed. Edhi says, “the basis of all religions is humanity”. Several babies left in the cradles outside Edhi centers and those babies are adopted and grown up in a home like an environment in the laps of kindhearted Edhi and his wife Balquis. In his whole life, he remained compassionate for needy and poor in all his best and even at his deathbed, he said to donate his eyes to a needy and his eyes become the source of vision for two blind people. This is how he wished, his legacy to be continued after his death.

 Ruth Pfau, known as Pakistan’s mother Teresa. She was a Philanthropist and champion of the poor masses. A selfless lady who devoted her entire life to the treatment of lepers who had been left disfigured and were rejected by society for the fear of being infected. In her life, she worked to serve the ailing. Her first encounter with lepers happened in beggar colony Karachi, where she witnessed the miserable condition of people afflicted with leprosy. She decided to remain the savior of leprosy patients.

 If God has made us human, there is the definite reason behind tithe sole meaning of life is to serve humanity. The mission of our life is to be the service of mankind and a source of comfort and ease. God has sent us for the welfare of another human. As the world is going through poverty, disease, and suffering, in order to avoid chaos, there is a need for well-being. One’s comfortability and happiness is the duty towards others. We are in debt to do this duty, when it goes beyond one’s duty, then comes humanity and love for human beings. It is Spiritual training which evaluates our mind. Individual life is successful on the basis of his humanitarian activities, although humanity gives nothing physical or materialist. It gives something more prior, such as inner happiness.

Ammara Awan

 The author is a blogger and mission holder Positive Pakistan.