Thank goodness for these people

In the news nowadays, the bizarre and the sensational are more apt to grab the headlines. Wars, killings and mayhem seem to dominate most of the columns in the tabloids or news clips that are beamed to our homes. It would be easy to assume that all hell is breaking loose.

And yet through it all, good is being carried out daily, albeit unnoticed. It is an opportune moment during this month of Ramadan that such selfless acts must be noted.

Over a period of some time, I began to record some of the unsolicited deeds of ordinary people who took it upon themselves to sprinkle a ray of sunshine among their fellow human beings against the shadow and doom of wars and terror.

Many were not aware of my interest in their activity, and many remain anonymous. But each played a part for that brief moment to rise above their domain of concern and spread a little cheer.

In one incident, I recollect waiting impatiently behind a vehicle at the pick-up window of a fast-food outlet. It must have taken the staff over 15 minutes to get the order ready, and by then my patience was reaching spillover point. As the orders were being delivered, I was surprised to see the man get out of the car and point to a field near the outlet. There were some underprivileged kids playing soccer barefoot, totally unaware of what was taking place.

The restaurant man then packed over a dozen Happy Meals and balancing them gingerly on two trays walked over to the kids and started distributing them to the eager children. By then the vehicle in front of me had driven away, leaving me overly ashamed for my moment of pique and impatience.

An American lady, suffering from a terminal illness and who sadly departed this world would spend many an hour at the local orphanages providing music lessons to the little orphans.

She could have spent her time in many other activities or chosen to return to her country, and yet took this as her calling. On weekends she would bundle up a few of the orphans in her van and take them to the amusement park and for pizza afterwards. May her soul rest in peace.

A group of office workers at the national airline pitched in some money monthly to send a destitute young man to Jordan for his Civil Aeronautics certification course, an obligation that they would commit to for the entire tenure of 20 months.

Each of these individuals was touched by the financial plight and the potential of that young man, and committed themselves to the task without seeking compensation at a later date.

A civil servant noticed that the construction of a house adjoining his property had stopped for a few months. The owner of the unfinished dwelling would drive by weekly to look at his place, but there was no activity. When the neighbour inquired, he found out that the work had stopped because the man ran out of money.

His wife had suffered a serious accident and the funds earmarked for finishing the construction were quickly eaten up. The neighbour, though not financially affluent then volunteered to help out each month until the house was finally finished.

Joy to the underprivileged

An old Asian gentleman was hitching a ride to the downtown Jeddah bus station. He wanted to go to Makkah to perform Umrah, but his funds were very meagre. The person who passed by and picked him up then drove the 80 kilometres to Makkah to ease the elderly gentleman's concern. Not only that, but he left the man with a few hundred riyals to help him during his time there.

A young lady, recently paralysed below the waist in an accident, spends most of her evenings during the holy month involved in a project packing up rations in boxes to be sent to the homes of the underprivileged. She sheds not a tear for her own personal calamity but for the misfortune of others and chooses to act positively.

There are many thousands of such individuals who daily perform acts of kindness without expecting anything in return. Some have taken it as a calling to help out the needy within the society.

They do it time and again in many different ways, year after year and without drawing attention to themselves. And then there are those who at the spur of a moment are triggered into a charitable deed.

To such good people everywhere, we offer our thanks and gratitude. For it is their goodness above everything else that will remain and be long remembered after they are gone.

Tariq A. Al Maeena is a Saudi socio-political commentator. He lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.