I participated in a very educative seminar for the education of mothers and find it so interesting that can't wait until I shared it with my friends.
One of the qualities of developing good character is that of been selfless in your day-to-day activities.
What is meant to be selfless? To be selfless means to think of others before you think of yourself. Blessed is he who prefers his brother to himself.
"The pure heart is entirely cut away from self. To be selfless is too pure. Abdul Baha.
There is a very educative story I read on nurturing children to be selfless which is a very good element in building a better society.
The story is an experience of Abdul Baha.
One day, the Governor(ruler) of Akka was to come to Abdul Baha's house. Abdul Baha's wife thought that His coat was not good enough for this important visit. She wanted the husband to have a better coat. But He never noticed what he wore, as long as it was clean and tidy. She wondered what she should do.
Finally, she that she would have a fancy, a new coat made for him. On an important day, she laid the new coat where 'Abdul Baha would be sure to find it. He went looking through the house. He called, where is my coat? Someone has left a coat which is not mine! His wife then tried to explain what she had done.
Abdul Baha said, " But think of this! For the price of this coat, you can buy five such as I always use, and do you think I would spend so much money upon a coat which only I shall wear?
If you think I need a new one, very well, but send this one back and for the same price have five made such as I usually wear. Then, you see, I shall not have a new one for myself, but I shall also have four more to give away."
The story of Abdul Baha reminds me of my childhood experience where usually takes food to hungry neighborhoods during key festivals in the community.
It seems to me that if the younger generation is nurtured to be selfless, the ills of society will be entirely wiped out.
The height of corruption and injustice in our society is because of the lack of the qualities of being selfless and just in our dealing.
The quality of being selfless goes hand in hand with the attributes of generosity.
There is a very beautiful quotation on generosity from the divine educator of the current dispensation Baha'u'llah which said that "To give and to be generous are attributes mine(God).
God is called the Most Generous because He gives us everything that we have. He gives us families, friends, food, animals, and water and so many other things. We can be generous by sharing what we have with others. God blesses generous people.
One of the valuable insights I gained on the path of service is that generosity goes beyond sharing of gifts. That the best generosity is sharing of knowledge.
The childhood experience of assisting poor families with food seems to be one wonderful way of expressing generosity.
I learned from the experience of Master Abdul Baha whose families always sacrifice their food in the process of eating whenever he hears about some starving families.
At such times, He would smile and say, " it does not matter to us. We have dinner last night, and we shall have it again tomorrow.
Reflecting on our childhood experience how our parents and loved ones take good care of us shows the height of the importance of being selfless and generous.
Man is not an island but a social being that is always dependant on one another.
The concept of mutual support and assistance is clearer when we develop the quality of being selfless and generous.
Selflessness and generosity go a long way. And just you mentioned, one way of doing these is through sharing knowledge, which entails sharing one's time too which is a valuable gift one can share to another.