Unwavering Self-Sacrifice

A certain Mr. Suresh Kamdar once went to visit one of his relatives in a Kolkata hospital. Another patient arrived there at that time to undergo an operation and was in immediate need of a blood transfusion. It was a matter of life and death for this patient. Mr. Kamdar felt sympathetic towards this patient and learning that his blood group was the same as his own, A positive, he donated his blood. A life was saved that day.

After this experience at Kolkata, when he was just 29 years, he decided to make blood donations a permanent option. For 24 years after that, he voluntarily donated blood approximately a hundred times. He has been awarded medals of distinction by the Red Cross society. (The Times of India, December 2, 1985)

There are always people who temporarily inspired, make blood donations. But such people are very rare who donate blood on a regular basis, and keep on doing so till the end of their lives.

These people are apparently doing some trivial work. But they are the ones who are doing great work. These are the people who create history. These are the people who take the nation forward through their sacrifice. If the first type of sacrifice creates leaders, the second type of sacrifice creates a nation. If the first type of sacrifice builds the present, the second type of sacrifice builds the future.

A large house cannot suddenly rise up on its foundation. It takes years for it to be built. For years on end, brick is laid upon brick and only then can the structure which rises up be called a house. A pond does not suddenly fill up. Only if it rains consistently over a long period does it come into existence. The same is true also of human beings. In human life, big ventures only take shape when many individuals are ready to combine their small efforts over a long period of time. Human success is the result not of short-term initiatives, but of patience and perseverance.