This incident happened many yrs ago ,that year we started this act of charity, wherein I made khichidi for about 30 odd people and packed it in individual aluminum disposable boxes and distributed it amongst the beggars who sat in front of Infant Jesus church. This we did without fail every Sunday for few years.
Charity leaves you with a very nice joyful feeling of sharing and it also has a funny way to inflate your ego , I began to notice this holier than thou feeling that descended on me each time I gave away these food parcels. It must have been a few months of this charity routine , one such day we were at the church again to give away the food parcels ,I had these last few boxes left and I saw an old lady hobbling towards me for that parcel, I gave that to her she looked both grateful and delighted and said she was really hungry , she hobbled her way back to where she was seated (just a few feet away from where I was standing). After I gave away the last box of parcels for that day a middle aged lady made her way and asked for one, I felt bad turning her down but all the food parcels were over, she looked dejected and walked away ,my eyes followed her and what I saw next taught me one of life’s biggest lessons.
The old lady who had said she was really hungry gave her food box to this woman , in an instant my holier than thou attitude came crashing . My act of charity faded away to being insignificant in the light of the act of charity shown by this old lady ,she gave away her only meal to someone, wherein I who lived in a comfortable house had not even spent half my weekly income towards this act of feeding the poor.
This was one of the most humbling lessons I have learnt standing on the road infront of the Infant Jesus church, to this day the memory is fresh and just as clear as it was that day. My ego took a required blow that day and I realized that my give away was like sharing a small bottle from a barrel I had whereas she gave away the only bottle that she had! A tiny act of hers was charity in true sense!
Preeti 