I am one of those rare people who think that wealth is not found in any material good. It is not poor who invests in respect, who practices kindness without looking at whom. Millionaires are those who have the respect and affection of their friends and family, because the real abundance is not in money, but in happiness.
There are people who, in fact, are not poor because of how they live, but because of how they think. We all know someone who advances through life with his head held high, displaying the lofty brightness of his position while attending to the world with the patina of arrogance. In their hearts there is no empathy, in their minds there is no humility or closeness and most likely they do not know what happiness knows.
"Poverty does not come because of the diminution of wealth but because of the multiplication of desires"
-Plato-
The thoughts, values and attitudes are what make up our real skin, that which is seen from the outside and that identifies us in the daily deal. Whoever understands respect, highlights and consolidates great bonds, but who cultivates an inflexible and spiteful mind, reaps mistrust.
There are poor people very rich in heart and rich very poor in affection (and vice versa). We are, without a doubt, a complex and instantaneous world where we are forced to cohabit.
Hence, a conclusion: it would be worthwhile to invest more efforts in that inner world so lacking in nutrients with which to achieve a more respectful scenario in which to grow in harmony. We propose to reflect on it.
The victories made from the heart make us rich
At the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro there was a scene that went around the world and moved us. Abbey D'Agostino, athlete from the United States, and Nikki Hamblin, from New Zealand, collided for a moment in the 5,000-meter final. The American, as it could be known later, broke the meniscus and the cruciate ligament at that very moment.
Now, after that incident, the New Zealander could have rushed her options by crossing the distance lost. However, he did not do it. He stopped and decided to help his opponent, Abbey D'Agostino.
In the end, the two athletes toured the few meters that were missing to the finish between tears, pain and a lot of emotion. It was a disinterested act full of sportsmanship, kindness and greatness that moved us to the majority.
That undoubtedly earned a gold medal, however, there was still someone who said that the New Zealand athlete should not have stopped. That he should have made up for lost time.
To think that there are minds capable of not empathizing with this type of acts overwhelms us. The magic of good is not just an abstract value. It is an instinctive act that inhabits our brain with a very specific purpose: to guarantee the survival of our species.
The scene of Nikki Hamblin helping Abbey D'Agostino shows us how an act of kindness gets two people to reach the goal of life. Not one, but both. So, beyond those evolutionary strategies where only the strongest survive, there are many more acts that are based on empathy and collaboration rather than predation.
Being poor of mind and heart is wasting life
Beyond what may seem, the poor person of mind and heart does not abound as much as we think. The species survives, the strongest can sometimes be the most noble and evil does not always triumph.
Most of us remain reactionary in the face of injustice, selfishness and violations. All this shows us why acts like these athletes reach the whole world with such force.
"The poor thing lacks many things, to the miser all"
-Publilio Sirio-
It is as if these scenes detoxify our hearts to make us see that goodness, in fact, continues to triumph, and even more: it infects us. However, it can be said that the poor of mind and heart do not always act with evil. What there is in reality is a lack of receptivity and empathy.
They are hearts incapable of seeing beyond the elegant attic of their solitary world of selfishness. It is something that we have to assume. We can not change them, nor convince them, let alone fight with them.
Men on umbrellas representing the poor mind It is about "being and letting be". Because who is poor of mind values
and affections wastes his life. It is like a strange element that in the end, in the epilogue of his life, discovers his own loneliness. Wrapped in the veil of bitterness comes the subtle conclusion of the world going against him. That nobody value what he is and what he has done.
Although in a way it is like that. Goodness always overcomes indifference and leaves it aside. Maybe, and in a certain way, we are like those fascinating flocks of starlings that advance in life as in a choreography, synchronized, as Jung would say.
We know that doing good is necessary for our species and therefore, before an act of altruism, respect and love, we continue to get excited. We continue believing in the nobility of the human being.
