Write By Example Of This Learning To Nurture Essay

As a young Kuwaiti, I broke my hand while riding my bike. I was about ten years old, and I lost control of my bike, crashing into a tree. I came home, and told my parents that I thought I broke my hand. As I was very young, I was not sure what a broken hand felt like. However, I insisted that there was something wrong, and that I thought I broke my hand. Both my father and mother looked at my hand, looked at each other, then at me, and said, “We don’t think you broke your hand, son.” However, as the days passed, the pain and swelling in my hand increased, and I could barely move my hand.
Eventually, my parents became much more concerned, as they realized that I was not lying in order to get out of going to school. Eventually, after a few days, they both took me to the hospital, where I received x-rays of my hand. The physician diagnosed me with a fractured hand. I could tell that my parents felt relieved to know what the problem was, but they also felt guilty, and ashamed that they did not believe me, at first. Thus, they had mixed feelings, but they apologized profusely for not believing me, and for not taking me to receive emergency care right away.
However, since that fateful incident, things changed immensely with the relationship between my parents and myself. From then onward, my parents listened to my health concerns, and never doubted that I was telling the truth, in order to avoid some activity, such as school. My parents became different in many ways. However, the most noticeable difference was the amount of love and care they showed me. It was as if my accident and hand trauma was a sort of “wake-up call” for them. They became more mellow, concerned people who did not take life for granted.
I feel that this story encompasses so much more than just a small boy with a broken hand whose parents disbelieved his story, but later showed him love and care, after his accident. If people can learn from each other and trust each other, the world would be a very different place. My parents are fairly ordinary people. If they were able to learn how to not take life for granted, other people all over the world can do the same. Surely, other people can learn how to trust each other, and show love and care for their needs. I feel that humanity is at a very crucial period, and that this is the most important lesson we can learn – how to be more humane to each other.
For me, the experience taught me to be more both more sympathetic and empathetic to others’ needs. Thus, kindness to others is something we can learn by learning how to love ourselves. Kindness and compassion are not necessarily built into our DNA, but, after reflecting upon my experience, I realize that my parents learned how to become more kind, and I learned to trust their motives. As a young adult, I have learned to extend kindness and compassion to others.
Thus, there is a great deal of hope for other people. It seems very possible that people who have been raised in the very worst environments, such as war-torn nations, impoverished neighborhoods, and access to very few necessities, can grow up to learn kindness to themselves and each other, breaking cycles of violence and neglect. However, there must be a starting point. Just as my parents were responsible enough to realize that their love for me demanded action, humans must realize that we are all part of the same family.
Thus, even though someone in a faraway city, state, or country suffers, we should take that person’s suffering personally, and exercise compassion to all those whom we come into contact with. Thus, kindness and compassion do not always begin in one’s own home as a child, or in one’s neighborhood. I sincerely believe that, just as my parents learned genuine compassion and kindness as adults, other adults can learn these lessons in later life, as well. More than anything else in the world right now, people need to learn and practice kindness towards others. Kindness means taking other people’s needs into consideration. Thus, our politicians could show more kindness and concern for our citizens by not waging wars, by taking care of people, by protecting our environment, and by believing that the needs of the people are genuine.
However, true kindness is more likely to begin in one’s home, and I learned this lesson as a young child. Once kindness and compassion is learned, the lesson is never forgotten because giving kindness, or giving in general to someone in need, feels better than taking something for one’s own selfish gain. Certainly, during these times, this is such a simple, yet necessary lesson for everyone to learn. Not everyone will be fortunate enough to break their hand, and have parents who reluctantly believe their story!
Although we have the most advanced technology, and we are able to send unmanned missions to other planets, such as Mars, as a species, we have a very long way to go. However, it seems that time is running out. It has become evident that our greed and selfishness is destroying ourselves, and the planet we live on. The simple lessons that great teachers, such as Buddha taught, need to be practiced, before time runs out, and our species becomes extinct, and all life on our planet dies.
My one experience with a broken hand, and my parents’ awakening of compassion, has caused me to be a kinder person to others. Hopefully, people will not have to annihilate themselves before they learn the most gratifying lesson of all, kindness and compassion for others.