by Dr. Cecil Clements (24th July 2012)
There’s this song that has been ringing in my head, written many years ago by Bobby Austin and Curt Sapaugh called ‘Try a Little Kindness’. The words go like this:
My mind kept going back to the phrase ‘You’ve got to try a little kindness’. I thought that kindness is not something that is very visible these days. Looking at my own life, I get so wrapped up in the things that I do and don’t seem to have the time to look around and notice people who need help. I have talked to you before about the Olympics for the disabled many years ago. At the start of the 100 meters race, these 8 runners took off. Three-fourths of the way down, one of them slipped and fell. When the rest of the runners saw their fallen colleague, they stopped, came back to him and picked him up, linked arms and crossed the finish line together. They got a standing applause, people were crying at the thought of how concerned the other 7 were that one of their competitors had fallen down.
I remembered thinking that you will not see people who fall unless you exercise your peripheral vision. Sometimes we get so myopic in the way we are. We keep looking straight ahead and doing the things that we need to do and don’t look around and observe the things that are happening around us. Yet these 7 runners were able to look around and see this one runner. Then they made a decision that they couldn’t walk away or run away from this runner. They were willing to give up that first place to help somebody.
That’s such a great lesson for us. Not only must we have peripheral vision, but also be able to do something when we see somebody that needs help. And then to be able to give up something to be able to help. I thought that it was a good thought for us. All of us sometimes get so focused on the things that we do, that we forget to look at people who need help.
When I visited our school in Orissa, all around the school are farmers who have cashew plants. I remember looking at how poor they all were and then looking at the rich cashew crop. Such a disparity! When I asked people why there was this kind of disparity, they said that the farmers never get the full amount for the sale of their cashew crop. The intermediaries, traders cheat them, promising to take the crop. But they delay saying that they could not get a buyer. And just before the crop is going to go bad, they buy it at a pittance saying they are keeping their promise. The farmers give in and they continue to remain poor.
There are people around us who are exploited by people who just don’t care about the plight of people, especially poor people.
This made me think about C.K. Prahalad who hailed from Coimbatore and made it big in the world. He wrote a book, ‘The Fortune At The Bottom Of The Pyramid’. He talks about E.I.D. Parry and the company and how they changed the face of poor villages by strategic thinking. It sounded interesting so I read up about it. Parry’s, which was bought by the Murugappa group, decided to do something about the sugarcane farmers in Nellikuppam of Tamil Nadu. So they went in and set up Internet cafes in 16 villages in 2001, around the sugar factory. These kiosks were meant to be business hubs just like the Parry’s corner of Chennai, an iconic hub. They called these places ‘Parry’s Corners’ and they were intended for buying farm input; they were markets for selling goods and Internet cafes for communication and information services.
But they had a goal. They said that they were going to raise farmers’ income 3 times in 5 years. They were intricately involved with the farmer because they had the sugar factory at Nellikuppam. Their goal was to help the farmer, to take out the middle person and allow the farmer to grow as an individual and to make more money than he was getting before.
I saw an interview that comes along with the book ‘The Fortune At The Bottom Of The Pyramid’ by C.K. Prahalad. There are a couple of people from the village talking about how blessed they are, how they have been lifted economically, how today they are getting money, prizes for the produce that they have. They are growing. Because of the Internet cafes, they are able to access the Internet and find out about the weather patterns and the best prices and best practices and all the rest. All because one company was willing to say, “We want to do something about the situation of the people in this place.”
What a wonderful goal! To be able to say, “We are not going to exploit people while we make money. We are going to also make sure that the people are alleviated. It’s not only the right thing to do, but it makes good business sense as well.”
As C.K. Prahalad would say, “There is a fortune at the bottom of the pyramid. But as that fortune begins to come out, it also helps the people at the bottom of the pyramid.”
But I think that will only happen if there is an awakening in us that says, “I see the plight of poor people. I see economically backward people. I see people who are exploiting these people. I’ve got to stop it. I’ve got to do something about it. I’ve got to say to myself, this cannot happen, not on my watch.”
I think that’s a good word for us this morning, to be able to look around, to notice things that we can get involved with and then stop and do something. Maybe we have to give up something in the process, but ultimately I believe it’s a win-win situation for everybody.
Let me pray with you. Almighty God, on each one of these precious ones on this call, I ask that you give to each one of us eyes that can see need all around us and that we will be able to stop and do something, that we will help, that we will be kind, that we will look around us and alleviate people who need help. I pray your blessing on each one on this call. Help us to have a wonderful day in your strength. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
God Bless You All.
There’s this song that has been ringing in my head, written many years ago by Bobby Austin and Curt Sapaugh called ‘Try a Little Kindness’. The words go like this:
If you see your brother standing by the road,
With a heavy load from the seeds he sowed.
Or if you see your sister falling by the way;
You stop and say, “You’re going the wrong way.”
You’ve got to try a little kindness, show a little kindness,
And shine your light for every one to see.
Try a little kindness, then you’ll overlook the blindness
Of the narrow-minded people on the narrow-minded street.
My mind kept going back to the phrase ‘You’ve got to try a little kindness’. I thought that kindness is not something that is very visible these days. Looking at my own life, I get so wrapped up in the things that I do and don’t seem to have the time to look around and notice people who need help. I have talked to you before about the Olympics for the disabled many years ago. At the start of the 100 meters race, these 8 runners took off. Three-fourths of the way down, one of them slipped and fell. When the rest of the runners saw their fallen colleague, they stopped, came back to him and picked him up, linked arms and crossed the finish line together. They got a standing applause, people were crying at the thought of how concerned the other 7 were that one of their competitors had fallen down.
I remembered thinking that you will not see people who fall unless you exercise your peripheral vision. Sometimes we get so myopic in the way we are. We keep looking straight ahead and doing the things that we need to do and don’t look around and observe the things that are happening around us. Yet these 7 runners were able to look around and see this one runner. Then they made a decision that they couldn’t walk away or run away from this runner. They were willing to give up that first place to help somebody.
That’s such a great lesson for us. Not only must we have peripheral vision, but also be able to do something when we see somebody that needs help. And then to be able to give up something to be able to help. I thought that it was a good thought for us. All of us sometimes get so focused on the things that we do, that we forget to look at people who need help.
When I visited our school in Orissa, all around the school are farmers who have cashew plants. I remember looking at how poor they all were and then looking at the rich cashew crop. Such a disparity! When I asked people why there was this kind of disparity, they said that the farmers never get the full amount for the sale of their cashew crop. The intermediaries, traders cheat them, promising to take the crop. But they delay saying that they could not get a buyer. And just before the crop is going to go bad, they buy it at a pittance saying they are keeping their promise. The farmers give in and they continue to remain poor.
There are people around us who are exploited by people who just don’t care about the plight of people, especially poor people.
This made me think about C.K. Prahalad who hailed from Coimbatore and made it big in the world. He wrote a book, ‘The Fortune At The Bottom Of The Pyramid’. He talks about E.I.D. Parry and the company and how they changed the face of poor villages by strategic thinking. It sounded interesting so I read up about it. Parry’s, which was bought by the Murugappa group, decided to do something about the sugarcane farmers in Nellikuppam of Tamil Nadu. So they went in and set up Internet cafes in 16 villages in 2001, around the sugar factory. These kiosks were meant to be business hubs just like the Parry’s corner of Chennai, an iconic hub. They called these places ‘Parry’s Corners’ and they were intended for buying farm input; they were markets for selling goods and Internet cafes for communication and information services.
But they had a goal. They said that they were going to raise farmers’ income 3 times in 5 years. They were intricately involved with the farmer because they had the sugar factory at Nellikuppam. Their goal was to help the farmer, to take out the middle person and allow the farmer to grow as an individual and to make more money than he was getting before.
I saw an interview that comes along with the book ‘The Fortune At The Bottom Of The Pyramid’ by C.K. Prahalad. There are a couple of people from the village talking about how blessed they are, how they have been lifted economically, how today they are getting money, prizes for the produce that they have. They are growing. Because of the Internet cafes, they are able to access the Internet and find out about the weather patterns and the best prices and best practices and all the rest. All because one company was willing to say, “We want to do something about the situation of the people in this place.”
What a wonderful goal! To be able to say, “We are not going to exploit people while we make money. We are going to also make sure that the people are alleviated. It’s not only the right thing to do, but it makes good business sense as well.”
As C.K. Prahalad would say, “There is a fortune at the bottom of the pyramid. But as that fortune begins to come out, it also helps the people at the bottom of the pyramid.”
But I think that will only happen if there is an awakening in us that says, “I see the plight of poor people. I see economically backward people. I see people who are exploiting these people. I’ve got to stop it. I’ve got to do something about it. I’ve got to say to myself, this cannot happen, not on my watch.”
If you see your brother standing by the road,
With a heavy load from the seeds he sowed.
Or if you see your sister falling by the way;
You stop and say, “You’re going the wrong way.”
You’ve got to try a little kindness, show a little kindness,
And shine your light for every one to see.
I think that’s a good word for us this morning, to be able to look around, to notice things that we can get involved with and then stop and do something. Maybe we have to give up something in the process, but ultimately I believe it’s a win-win situation for everybody.
Let me pray with you. Almighty God, on each one of these precious ones on this call, I ask that you give to each one of us eyes that can see need all around us and that we will be able to stop and do something, that we will help, that we will be kind, that we will look around us and alleviate people who need help. I pray your blessing on each one on this call. Help us to have a wonderful day in your strength. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
God Bless You All.
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