Be Selfless, Be Kind and Have Courage

Being you in the world we know, is like fighting to survive in a blood arena.

In the past, games and sports were held, and no one ever knew the real purpose of hosting such events. Some thought it was for entertainment and others thought it was to find out who would be named as the strongest among men. Regardless of these views being accustomed and taken into consideration, the real reason was that it was merely an event to determine one’s worth.

Slaves and innocent people were put in the cells that were underneath the arena, lost in hope and self; knowing that their lives would be taken by the rising of the sun. And the last man standing was granted freedom to live amongst others but as a champion.

Isn’t this similar to how we live now? Instead of games and death arenas, our fights are when we are either in our home environment or in our working environment and the last person to have had their thoughts or voices accepted were treated as an equal, otherwise, you are deemed worthless or you have no place amongst others.

When looking at the big picture, whether it be in the past or the present, the circumstances and outcomes are the same; we all fight for survival; having to look out for ourselves, in the end, is what matters most.

It’s rather sad, how we have changed and forgotten that we are equal to each other; and this is a known fact. Here is a short story,

There was a boy who hadn’t even passed middle school because he had no interest in studying, he preferred to be around movies so he took more interest to run his father’s small movie shop than to attend school or complete his education. So when he came to a certain age, his parents decided to put him up for marriage. They found a suitable girl who was very educated and her parents also agreed.

The girl also showed no hesitation in getting married to the young boy, however, the boy was very displeased. After their wedding, the boy was complaining endlessly about her size since she was ‘fat’ and he didn’t even want to hold her hand when they walked out or even at night. The girl felt very sad despite her many attempts for her husband to love her. One day the girl was looking for her husband and she found him outside the house talking with his friends.

She went to call him in for dinner but as she got closer, she heard her husband's words, he kept complaining about her being fat and ugly and that he had no interest in her. When he turned around once being signaled by his friend; his wife slapped him being engulfed with shame and heartbreak, that she decided to go back home to her parents.

When the boy’s parents heard that his wife left, they were very upset with their son; meanwhile, the girl was applying for a job at a university. However before her interview, she filed a divorce, and before the judge, were both families and the girl and boy. The judge asked the girl whether she had willingly agreed to the arranged marriage and she replied saying yes because she fell in love with the boy within a glance. But the boy retorted out and questioned how could love a ‘fat’ girl; feeling so degraded, the girl said I fell in love with an ‘uneducated’ and ‘illiterate’ man. Hearing these words, the boy wouldn’t dare speak again; and the judge asked them to continue to be together for another 6 months as according to the law a divorce could not be filed before 6 months of marriage.

Reluctantly they agreed to the terms, and the girl went back to live with her husband. Seeing how he was humiliated in front of the judge, the young tried to attempt to do his high school exam which he had not taken in the past but without any help from his wife.

On the day of the exam, he sat in his place and didn’t know how to attempt the paper, instead, he wrote down, ‘ to the person correcting this paper, please have some sympathy towards me otherwise I don’t know what would become of me.’

When he got home, his family was there and his wife cooked a big meal, however to the husband it had no taste or flavor, but his family kept commenting that it was very tasty. Not being able to control anything, he stood up in rage and was walking out the door, followed by his mother and his wife, he finally confessed. He didn’t hate his wife for appearance but her knowledge and he hated that he was nothing compared to her.

Seeing that he was ashamed of himself, the wife began to understand that he was channeling his anger of himself but through her. This made her encourage her husband and be open to him, and she even showed him that she loved him despite his lack of educational standards. Of course that same night the police came to their house because of what the husband had written for the exam paper; as they thought he would commit suicide. However in the end things were sorted out.

The following week, the wife had an interview for a job at the university, and she looked in her bag and saw she had forgotten to bring her documents, but in time, her husband came running to her with her documents and she landed the job, being so happy, the university even had a games event for the new applications. One of the games had a 10,000 cash reward, and the game was for the husbands to carry their wives and run the obstacle course. The boy’s family was encouraging the wife to participate with her husband, but she was reluctant.

In the end, they entered the competition, the boy being so thin, carried his wife and kept running and through each obstacle, the wife guided him how to get through, and in the end they won the race but the husband didn’t let his wife off his back, he felt overwhelmed with joy that it made him feel love towards his wife for the first time.

So to even be noticed or to be given fair treatment, a lot of struggles happen along the way, unpredictable instances and circumstances have developed such mindsets to grow and empower our physical attributes to be more and more competitive and focused on gaining self-attention and self-love.

What do you gain from being selfish in such ways? One must be not filled with pride or self-caused; because of such behavior and attitudes, many of us suffer in ways I myself can’t even fathom.

For example, we take for granted every little thing, even up to the food we eat, if it does not suit our taste, we expel it. What about those who are starving? Did you know in Africa, the locality eats biscuits made up of mud, flour, and water? Tasteless and unhealthy products even fill the stomachs of growing children, whereas we tend to compete for the best.

Survival of the fittest is a term brought up by our ancestors since they lived in the wilderness back then. We are not in that era and we can do so much more than to fight for power or attention. Why do we succumb to being petty, unjust, and cruel?

Why not start making a change and try being selfless. It does not require much effort at all; small selfless acts when demonstrated would be passed on and the lesson and feelings that arise from them would remain forever. We agreed on world peace between countries many years ago, what about peace within our own borders? Let us start at home and be a more warm people who are open and not seek for selfish satisfaction.