28th March 2011
Free has no value!
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
Mahatma Gandhi
We are witnessing an election in India and political parties are vying with one another to woo the voters with attractive social welfare schemes. Some political parties are offering a lot of free things. We have to understand some basic fundamental truth about how people will treat anything offered free or unasked for.
The other day I met a person who gave me a long list of free services he does for the society. He is running a free tuition center. He is a qualified mathematics teacher. I went to see his tuition center and was shocked to see that there are no takers for his free center. He is very upset that people do not respect his service. I also met a doctor who offers free medical consultation everyday from 4 pm to 6 pm. But there are no takers!
We have to serve the society and service to people is service to God. But the question is: do people value your service? If people do not value your service, any amount of free service will not be appreciated.
Anything given free has no value. What you offer to others should meet two qualifications:
· People `yearn' for it so that they will respect the same.
· People pay for your service, so that they realise the value.
In fact the more people pay for your time, the more you become respectable. Similarly, the scarcer the thing, the more valuable it becomes. The more freely a thing is available, the less valuable it will become.
One more point. If you offer something unasked, it will not have any value. It is a simple demand and soppy issue. The more the demand and lesser the supply, the more will be the value. The less the demand and more the supply, the lesser will be the value.
Over this weekend, check if you are offering anything free and how people value the same! If you still want to continue your service, that is the real service to God!
N C Sridharan
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