A painting to share

Life is all about sharing, whether it is our joy, our sorrow, our food, our selves or even our resources. I once had to speak to a group of seven year olds about the disparity if resources in the world. There were 40 children and so I divided them into two groups, one of thirty and the other of ten. I had taken a cake with me to explain this concept. I cut the cake into four pieces and gave three to the group of ten children and one to the group of thirty. Even before I could turn, one child from the group of ten gave one piece to the group of thirty children. Then another brought one more. I was taken aback and stood still. The second child could have done it to just copy the first one or there could be other explanations for it. But I could no longer explain disparity of resources in the world to them. How could I tell a group of 7 year olds that this is not what the grownups do? How could I tell those little children who so spontaneously shared that some grown ups don’t like to share? The world has enough resources for all the people to live happily if only we shared. The international students in EMU are part of this sharing, sharing knowledge, resources and culture. This is an opportunity to share with the underprivileged. I often ask myself why are we not able to do research and publish papers like the westerners. Truly I tell you, we are busy making ends meet, saving our lives from war, protecting our children from danger and trying to keep away malaria and tuberculosis that we hardly have time for intellectual pursuits. Although studying abroad is not the solution, it is an opportunity. Cross cultural education is a beginning; we are the cultural ambassadors of peace. We want to make people aware of the realities of our side of the world. If we leave this place with even one person understanding the problem we face back home, we have played our parts well. Life is a painting and everyone is called to paint. What we paint becomes the final picture, some of us paint joy, hope, some hatred and fear, some love and some even war. I wish that each of us is conscious of what we paint and make this painting a beautiful one for all to share.