Doing a good deed!

“Daddy, why do you bring that people to stay with us? They aren’t our family or relative but we need to share our house and food with them” It was my question to my father long time ago. I still remember his answer, “You have to do a good deed in your life, and it will open the way for good deeds to come back to you” I said, “Maybe they never come back when they become rich or they forget you” My father said,” It is okay. I don’t need them to come back, they just need to pay it forward”

Here is the story: My father liked to give people whom he met free accommodation and food. Sometimes they stayed in our house until they got a job, it could be one week, one month, two months or more than one year. If you think he was rich… You are wrong. We had to live with many people together, and it was hard, especially if we weren’t rich. I grew up in that situation.

My father came from a very poor family, and he lost his father at a very young age and he never went to school. Life was so hard for him so he had to work hard to feed his family. I have 5 siblings and they had been in the worse economic condition compared to my time as the youngest in the family.  That condition never stopped my father to do a good deed for other.

Once I asked him, “ How do you manage to feed everybody?” My father smiled and answered, “It is easy. Your mother always has eggs in the menu and cassava. Eggs are easy to cook. It is also healthy and makes you full and we have cassava in our back yard. We have enough food for everyone”.  I argued with my father, “If we don’t have to feed many people in this house, you can give us meat and good food” His answer was so light and easy, “There will be a time for you to enjoy a good food. Just share a little bit now and you become a good person ”

You can imagine how I had to get used with sharing our food. No wonder if my family’s favorite foods are cassava and eggs until now.

For many years it was happened in our house, I saw the people stayed in our house and left the house after they got a job and built their own business and family. Sometimes they came to visit my parents during the Chinese New Year. They always said, “Your parent gave me a place when I needed and fed me well when I was hungry. I will never forget it”

My father’s action to give people a place to stay and food, it was contagious to my brother, he brought three friends to stay in our house during his high school years. Our house famous as the second blessing house for our friends, people came to have lunch or dinner or stay for a night.

I remembered my father said, “You don’t have to be rich to do a good deed or to help others, you never know the power of your smile maybe can save people’s life.” With that reason, my father always went around to help people. When he passed away, hundreds people came to the funeral to pay their respect.

As Saint Basil said

A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love

You don’t have to wait to do a good deed today. You don’t have to be rich but you can always make a difference in other people’s life. The most important, “Doing the good deeds is also contagious” Let us start today.

Hendrik Ibsen said:

A thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed.

This article I dedicated for my father Sambas Kartawidjaja. He passed away in Innsbruck Austria September 15, 1995 at the age 63 years old. He is not with me now, but he left his philosophy of life in me.

Note: I presented this article as my international speech contest for Kebayoran Toastmasters on February 26, 2013. I won the first place.

**Lina Kartasasmita** 7.55PM February 25, 2013