Human Mentality

Today Morning (June 17, 2010) I got a mail from my friend. The content of the mail was "A wonderful story comes from 19th century England. According to the account, Queen Victoria was once at a diplomatic reception in London.

The guest of honor was an African chieftain. All went well during the meal until, at the end, finger bowl were served. The guest of honor had never seen a British finger bowl, and no one had thought to brief him beforehand about its purpose. So he took the bowl in his two hands, lifted it to his mouth, and drank its contents down!

For an instant there was breathless silence among the British privilege guests, and then they began to whisper to one another. All that stopped; however, when Queen Victoria silently took her finger bowl in her two hands, lifted it, and drank its contents! A moment later, 500 surprised British ladies and gentlemen simultaneously drank the contents of their own finger bowls.

It was the queen's uncommon courtesy that guarded her guest from certain embarrassment."

After reading the story I was doing nothing for 5 to 10 minutes. I was thinking about the great Queen who cared about her guest. Then I asked a question to myself what I would have done if I were in the place of Queen. Surely I would have laughed on the poor guest who drunk the finger bowl. I am not matured. I was ashamed about myself. I guessed what about my reaction when I
were the poor guest. I would have cried like a kid. When we face an embarrassing situation we don't have the guts or strength to face it. But when we make the embarrassing situation to others we are not thinking about the person who is going to suffer. We should think everyone as equal.

I used to travel by government bus. When i find any old people or disabled person I used to offer them my seat. Some will accept and some will say "It's OK I have been used to it". I feel proud about them. But one day I felt very bad about the way how we are civilized. On that particular day I started to my office by government bus. I got a place to sit and I was listening to the songs from my mobile. After two or three stop a pregnant lady boarded the bus. I guess it would be the eighth month of her pregnancy. The bus was fully occupied.

She stood in the bus for sometimes. After that I guess she might not be able to stand. She asked a girl (working for a software firm, surely she must be an engineer) to give her place. The girl looked at that woman and didn't even gave a response. That girl remained still like nothing had happened. Everyone in the bus was looking this scene. But none was volunteered to lend or give their seat to the suffering woman. I stood and offered my seat to her. She hesitated a lot after that she settled down in my seat.

I was very angry about the girl's behavior and the people courtesy towards the suffering woman. She is well educated, she know what is good. But unwilling to help the needy one. Why this kind of uniqueness. Does our ancestors dreamed about this kind of civilization or our society had thought us this kind of moral. We should think about ourselves not others. What kind of feeling, thought, expectation we have is the same as others do then why we can't understand others feeling.

Our human mentality has been tuned in such a way that we are living inside a circle that encloses us and people who known to us. If this kind of society is encouraged the future one has to suffer a lot and they have to fight for their basic needs. We can't change everything in a second or in a year. We can teach the younger one and make them to understand each other and live happily together. Everyone is in search of happiness, we can spread it all over the world. It's in our hands. We shall respect others feeling.