You’re a Waste of Space and Good Air

After a long, regimented, stereotypical boarding school day, we’d gather at the entrance of our dormitory. Tired and sleepy, we’d bow our heads and say the prayer of St Ignatius of Loyola, “Lord, teach me to be generous. Teach me to serve you as you deserve; to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for reward, save that of knowing that I do your will”.

Each one of us, at some point in our lives has put something negative into this world; we’ve hurt someone, we’ve lied, we’ve cheated or simply turned a blind eye to some of the wrongs we see happening around us be it bigotry or violence, sexism or abuse. These are sometimes things we can never take back, moments in time we can never redo but only reflect upon with regret. But one always hopes that in that moment of reflection, that moment of regret, we realize that we have to try make amends, we realize that we have to better ourselves and by so doing better the existence of those around us. And so, like in the prayer of St Ignatius, we have to become selfless in the hopes of achieving the greater good. My mother once said to me, “if you’re not standing up for the weak, if you’re not fighting the good fight, then you’re just a waste of space and good air because the world is crowded enough as it is”.

Sincerely yours,
Kwapi

Copyright 2011
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