Thursday, October 15, 2009

AN INTROSPECTION ON FAVOR


Recently i received a pretty good favor from an acquaintance . Even though we had barely seen each other or talked in recent years , once when i simply asked whether he could download some rare movies ,he said ,"okay ,will try" .Initially i was a bit skeptical whether he would do it as he was a busy workaholic with many computer related works from early day to late night. But after one month , i got a call from him, saying that he had got all those 50 movies which i had asked him.For some,this maybe a trivial thing.but for me this was a big thing & made me to write this small article exploring FAVOR dynamics.


Most of us aren't beneficiaries of good deeds or favors very often. When we get in trouble, we have to survive in on our own. "One can never pay in gratitude; one can pay "in kind" somewhere else in life" - Anne Lindbergh This quote may seem out of place to most people. Their lives have not been graced by good deeds or favors done for them by others and they have little time or interest in doing something for another person that does not benefit themselves.

In past generations people had to support and do favors for their friends and neighbors because they knew the time would come when they would need help from others when they couldn't make it on their own.Even Today ,for example in certain close knit communities like Amish , when a new barn (for grain storage ) has to go up for a family , the rural community has a "barn raising" ceremony where the whole people of the community come together to build the barn and the building usually went up in a day.

But in suburban areas today, neighbors feel successful if they manage to reach an agreement over a questionable move that could affect both without going to court. In cities many apartment neighbors don't even know each other. And they won't meet because, by convention, no one speak to others in an elevator.When someone does something nice for another, the good deed doer might not even receive a "Thank you." Some don't want favors done for them because they believe it creates an obligation for them to return the favor.When people help each other today we call it charity. However, the word charity either must be redefined or a new word must be found for a new kind of helping .

Even if we can't repay someone who has done us a favor ,we can however, pay it forward. We can do a good deed for someone else who needs one desperately. We can help those who want it. We can stop making it seem shameful to need help from others.We can even do favors for those who need it even if we haven't received any ourselves.

As an icing on the cake , a list of movies which celebrate Favor ;

1. Forrestgump
2. Okurbito (Departures)
3. La Promesse (The Promise)
4. Luo Ye Gui Gen (Getting Home )
5. Birdy
6.Central Station

Someone has just done you a favor of passing along some good news. Maybe it's not much to you. But you could pass along some good news about the future we all hope to see ,to someone.

2 comments:

Jayakrishnan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jayakrishnan said...

Since Iam no mere acquaintance,I hope you will lend me some of those 50 movies which you treasure so highly:))