TSH 2009 Essay Contest

Entry No: 6 (1st Honorable mention – Nicholas Tolat, Westfield HS)

Rabindranath Tagore’s poetry and literature has influenced generations of people ever since the beginning of the twentieth century.  Despite his widespread success and prominence, few have come to truly realize the power that his words can bring to today’s society.  With the advent of the “me” generation, material goods have become more popular than ever before.  Hollywood has given off the vibe that the only way to happiness is through having large amounts of money and using it to buy clothes, jewelry, entertainment systems, you name it.  Tagore’s works brings us back to Earth.  Especially in the environment that we live in, his words of wisdom can be instrumental in motivating our society.
    Everybody seeks to find joy in life.  However, many people have different avenues to achieve this joy.  Tagore’s quote explains the ultimate dream that everybody is after, but he specifically states that we must understand that giving joy to others is one of the best ways to reach this dream.  In his one of his poems of life, Tagore explains, “Life is given to us, we earn it by giving it.”  With seemingly endless poverty wrapping the world as well strains of diseases that possibly can lead to pandemics, it is plausible to wonder how some people can find joy in exploiting others.  These questions cascade through our minds as we watch horrific event after horrific event take place in the daily news.  Human suffering occurs at every corner of our lives, even to those who are affluent members of society, but what do many people do about it?  Suffering may persist as an effect of humanity, but does mankind owe it to the population to alleviate some of this suffering?  
    Personally, I have gone through my share of community service projects in high school.  During the summer, I would assist in clinical rounds at a local hospital.  As president of the National Honor Society, I organized activities every month which included participating at the Thanksgiving Feast at the George R. Brown Convention Center and visiting a retirement home a few days before Christmas Day.  I did not anticipate a major turnout for these events, but I was surprised to witness all the members attending these events.  Although many other teenagers might consider playing basketball or watching television to be much more enjoyable, the time I shared with these people actually opened my eyes to the events that were going on around me.  As a child, one sometimes can blocked from the deplorable plight that others have to undergo, but it is something one cannot avoid for an entire lifetime.  As time moved on during these events, I found that giving back to my community gave me a feeling that I could not attain from playing a sport or winning a game.  It was different.  It was real.  It was genuine joy that did not just last for a couple of days; it was something that stays with a person for their entire life.  
    These fateful words by Tagore can also inspire today’s society to move in a better direction.  The crime rate is continuing to increase and the apathy towards growing problems such as pollution and disease seems to be boundless with the incoming generations.  With the threat of nuclear weapons just around the corner, our society and the incoming generation may be facing some of the toughest decisions of our time.  This is where a person like Rabindranath Tagore can come in.  During his lifetime, he inspired many to dedicate their lives towards serving others, and these people found the self-actualization that many humanists desire.  The just-world phenomenon sometimes grasps and leaves us with a tendency to believe that evil will always be punished and the good will be rewarded.  This may have let to this ongoing “bystander effect,” in which many walk away from the helpless victim of a situation, expecting that others will help.  Nonetheless, this may not be as apparent because of the fact that we live in the United States.  It is sometimes hard for Americans to fathom that there is more injustice than justice in the world, more sickness than health, and more pain and suffering than happiness.  However, in most cases, this appears all too true.  With these kinds of situations in front of us, even one extra person working to serve others might make a tough plight that more bearable.  This was exemplified by the late Mother Teresa.  Although there was much criticism towards her work, she provided ample care to the dying and poor men, women, and children on the streets of Calcutta, India.  She understood that her work may have created some enemies, but the fact that she continued to serve to help the lives of others displayed her true dedication she had achieved.  This may be a tough model to follow, but the perseverance to continue serving others in the face of trying times is something that this world cannot get enough of today.  
    It is undeniable that the human species has changed since the 1900s.  The inventions of automobiles and computers have made efficiency and communication speed faster than ever before.  However, as if with everything, these technological advances have also come at a cost.  We have become more and more desensitized to suffering and the predicament of others to the point where we just leave people in their own quandary.  Even though many have come to allow this, others still find this quite unacceptable.  How can we passively allow others to suffer or starve when we already have all the pleasures of the world?  Rabindranath Tagore’s ideas make a defiant point on the importance of service.  Many Americans look the other way when asked to serve or even give a helping hand to others because they would rather do something more enjoyable.  However, it is their critical fallacy when they fail to realize that in fact the most joy can come from service and that ultimately, “service was joy.”