A Monument of Good Deeds
Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago. (Warren Buffett)
Today it pains to see trees are axed in the name of development for road widening projects. Development & road widening is a welcome move, but hacking of trees is not. It would be criminal to destroy so many trees in the name of development or road widening. On the other side, Instead of always blaming the concerned authorities for not taking appropriate steps, we as individuals too have a moral responsibility towards our environment. Collective effort towards well-planned forestation is the only way to rebuild our environment.
During my school days I was interested in history subject & I was very passionate to build beautiful monuments like Taj Mahal, Red Fort or Qutab Minar, so that people can remember me forever. I thank my History teacher, she explained me that it is very difficult to build monuments because it takes lot of money & time. She suggested me to plant trees which are very easy, economical & more beneficial than monuments & people will remember you like king Ashoka the great.
Planting trees became my passion. I started planting trees from my school days. I was helped by my friends and encouraged by my teachers & I am always thankful for their guidance & support. I chose to plant fruit bearing trees so that it would not only provide shade but also give fruit to the birds & animals.
The habit of planting trees continued even after I passed out from my school. I always prefer to gift trees to educational institutes & to my friends especially when they invite for the house warming ceremony.
Time is the thief of memory. After a gap of four years I visited Arabic School near Tumkur, It’s around seventy kilometers from Bangalore. During my first visit around four years back I had planted saplings of fruit & flower trees. It’s been so satisfying to see students studying under the shades of trees, wind whistling through the leaves, birds sitting & singing on the trees. As I try to collect my thoughts & recall the years that have gone by, there’s a touch of emotion in the recognition of the fact that the years have flown.
All of a sudden Principal came & wished me. He too was very happy to see the green & clean environment. He asked me a simple question, how would you like to be remembered?
I was very surprised by the question, I just replied as a person who did very little good deeds.
Principal smiled & said these golden words which I still remember, good works do not produce faith, but faith should produce good works.
I do not want to build monuments to be remembered forever, let me keep planting the trees & hope people will remember me as a person who did little good deeds or at least did no harm to anyone. Let’s do some good work every chance we get and change the world, at least one good deed at a time. If we don't do it, who will?
We are remembered for the things we do. Good deeds are like beautiful monuments but built with memories instead of with stone.
Every time you do a good deed you shine the light a little farther into the dark. And the thing is, when you're gone that light is going to keep shining on, pushing the shadows back.(Charles de Lint)
