Fyi, I’m not asking for any money, so don’t run off just as yet.
So, I am another confused youngster, at yet another crossroad of my life. This time however is different. Normally it is “how do I get to something meaningful in the least time and effort possible?” This time it is: “how do I do something that does not involve any monetary incentive”
I know that you are not getting a word of what I’m saying right now. Let me make myself clear. I wish to tread a few miles on the path of nobility. I want to comfort this aching head which is a constant reminder of the path I should have taken and did not.
I had wanted to be a doctor for a reason, however cliched it might sound – to help people. I did not want my profession to be one of “measuring” value of life in Rupees or $. Now that I’m deep in murky waters and better aware of the workings of my profession, my biggest worry is that all I’ll do for the rest of my life to see hundred patients a week, only to figure out the ‘best way’ – of treating obviosly AND also of getting the most money out of his/her situation.
Up until now, I had no choice. I had to finish my graduation (medical school) and start earning money. Not that I needed to earn money ‘as soon as possible’, just that it is a discomforting thought to live off parents’ money for too long. But now, as I’m about to graduate in less than a month, I see the light. I see sanity after a long time.
I need your help guys. I need to prove that young people (anyone under 60) today have a lot more in them than a zeal to work like zombies. That we actually are alive and sensitive to other people’s needs.
I need helping hands in an endevor I’m planning to undertake. I’m planning to do some social service, primarily through a new NGO. It’ll be for the most neglected section of our society, the HOMELESS. I can not bear the hundreds of handprints of hungry children begging at intersections and trying to make us aware of their condition by knocking on our car windows. I can not bear any more the idea of thousands and thousands of people sleeping without any roof over their heads in this UNFORGIVING WINTER. You shudder when you walk out of your car to the door of your house wearing 3 layers of woolens. They have the same thread of a t-shirt from last summer.
This is the time to be grateful, to return the favor to the society.
While we spend countless green notes in new year celebrations, some people did not have food to eat on the last night of 2009, or the first morning of the new decade. Let their fate be a little different this year. Be the change they need.
I quote a poster I saw in New York Metro this fall/winter: “Give the Homeless the Change they Need” – i.e. one penny/rupee will not suffice any more.
We have a few people agreeing in principle with this idea. Please write back in case you have any suggestions. WE ARE ALSO OPEN TO THE IDEA OF JOINING AN EXISTING NGO, so if you are already doing what we want to do, please mail/tweet/skype me asap.