Do the needful

“Do the needful” is one of those quaint Indian English expressions, like “donnybrook” and “fisticuffs”. “Sir, I implore you, do the needful!” As I was walking to work today my fertile brain flitted from random thought to random thought, until, for some inexplicable reason, I hit upon “do the needful.” Do the needful for what? I am thinking. For Chris, of course, for others. I got to thinking about do the needful because my mind turned towards street people and my own prejudice tells me that their relatives are not doing the needful for them. We can only blame “the system” and our relative’s own problems for so long before we must look at ourselves and wonder why we are not there for our relative. We have all kinds of excuses, of course that any of our friends and family would sympathize with, but when push comes to shove, we should not abandon our relative to the street. Had the medical profession given us a more hopeful scenario, encouragement and insight, I am convinced that we wouldn’t have so many people on the street.

Doing the needful also means getting your own house in order.

If you don’t read, starting reading.
If you don’t believe, start believing.
If you have no faith, begin developing one.
If you don’t meditate or do yoga, think about starting.
If you don’t believe that something is possible, begin by suspending disbelief.
If you think there is only one way, think again.