Kindness costs you nothing. Unkindness can cost you dearly.
Positive Minds | Positive Quotes | Edition 022
I was born and raised in food insecurity following the Great Famine in the Sahel. In those days, one meal a day was a luxury.
As a child, my mother would often deprive us of food and give it to the neighbour, even if it meant serving us boiled baobab leaves seasoned only with salt and oil. One day I asked her why she was doing that. "The good deed is never lost, son", she replied. That was hard for a 9-year-old boy like me to grasp. Growing up, I understood the true meaning of "a good deed is never lost". My mother's kindness was a social investment for us, her children.
Growing up, I understood the true meaning of "a good deed is never lost". My mother's kindness was a social investment for us, her children.
When I left my parents at 11 to continue my studies, I began to benefit from the social capital of this investment. Whenever I faced an insurmountable challenge, someone always came to my rescue, and in a selfless way. At first, I thought it was a mere coincidence. However, as the examples built up, I realised that there was a cause-and-effect relationship: I was harvesting the fruits of my mother's kindness.
Like the day my wealthy uncle kicked me out of his home in the rain for daring to take a book from his library to read without his permission and be welcomed by a schoolmate's family. My uncle ended his life in prison ruined.
Or when I almost didn't pass my baccalaureate diploma because I didn't have a birth certificate and my headmaster at secondary school went out of his way to register me. He was later promoted to become Director of Secondary Education.
Or when I was unfairly denied my scholarship to the United States (because I was the child of a low-income family with no means to appeal), and two years later, the Dean of the National Engineering School in Mali offered me one of three scholarships from the French Aid and Cooperation Fund (FAC) to go and study at 2iE (International Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering) in Burkina Faso. Later he served as a minister several times and had a remarkable political career.
I wouldn't have been able to overcome these life experiences and get incredible support without my mum's social investment many years back.
Today, I strive to be as altruistic as my mother by paying forward what I received from many others when I needed it most.
Today, I strive to be as altruistic as my mother by paying forward what I received from many others when I needed it most.
What about you? Do you share my mum's philosophy when she says that a good deed is never lost? Share your story and your thoughts in the comments.
