Lend a hand, Change the world

“The men who build the future are those who know that greater things are yet to come and they themselves can help bring it about. There minds are illumined by a blazing sun of hope, they never pause to doubt….” Steve Evan

His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to eke out a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow
and terrifying death.

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.
"I want to repay you," said the nobleman.

"You saved my son's life."
"No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hovel.
"Is that your son?" the nobleman asked.

"Yes," the farmer replied proudly.
"I'll make you a deal. Let me take him and give him a good education.
If the lad is anything like his father, he'll grow to a man you can be proud of."

And that he did. In time, Farmer Fleming's son graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.

And soon Young Alexander graduated after earning various honours at medical School ( He opted to study Medicine). During tha period, the world is afflicted with epidemic here and there. Microbes are having field day as hey gradually eliminate mankind one after the other. Some illness are deemed as incurable while in Africa, illness such as Small Pox and leprosy are regarded as curse from gods and some saw them as signs of evil. Since there is no cure, the only solution is to throw the people in the Evil Forest where they live with animals and either up eaten by wild beasts or died of hunger. Such is the seriousness of the situation at the time Fleming was practicing the knowledge he acquired through humanitarian gesture.

One day, Fleming was working in the lab when he noticed that new set microbes are growing on the culture he was working on. He picked up his microscope and discovered that the deadly microbes he left there are dead while a new set of microbes are growing on them. He found out that the new microbes are harmless and further investigation led to the accidental discovery of Penicillin. He repeated his experiment and his finding became a grand breaking medical revolution that restored hope to millions of people world-wide.

The discovery of Penicillin became one of the greatest lifesavers in human history as it helped in proffering cures to illness and diseases that are once thought to be terminal and incurable.

An interesting part of the story is that years later, when the nobleman's son was stricken with pneumonia which used to be incurable illness, he was cured by the use of penicillin. Thus saving his life and prolonging his life. The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son's name? Sir Winston Church!!!

Every act of kindness and good gesture we render, and every ray of negative message we beam across will inevitably return back to us in a way we never even anticipate. Whether it is in form of encouragement or gift; whether it is of smile or contorted frown, the Newton’s Law of motion is always applicable. Action and Reactions are equal and opposite.

As we match forth in the eternal decades of time, I encourage every one of us to look out for a simple opportunity to help someone out of any situation. Let us do it. Let us lend a hand to the nearest person to us and lift someone up. If we do this, we will inevitably wake up one day and discover that our little gesture has made the world a better place to live.

There are millions of Flemings out there that are working there way in one shadowy vocation or the other, waiting for someone to give them a push in life. We do not have to gift material and financial resource all the time, in fact we may not need it. When you give out a light from your candle, it will not diminish your light but will spread and increase the light around your world.

As someone rightly put it; “Anticipate charity by preventing poverty; assist the reduced fellow man, either by a considerable gift or a sum of money or by teaching him a trade or by putting him in the way of business so that he may earn an honest livelihood and not be forced to the dreadful alternative of holding out his hand for charity. This is the highest step and summit of charity's golden ladder.” I believe the best charity in the world is the one that show the other man how to make his livelihood and also make positive impact in his community.

I am concluding this by urging you all to look down from your elevated height and locate one person (or more) that is down who, when you lift up is capable of lifting up another man. Lend a hand, and let us change the world through giving and showing the pathway to success for others. This alone, is the pathway to a better world.

See you at the top.

Isqil