‘Try a little kindness’

Fond farewell: The story of Kittu was featured in Sunday Star on Dec 3.

In 2005, after serving 21 years in a school in Kapar, Klang, I was given a send-off to a premier school in Klang town. The farewell I received was most heartwarming.

The principal of the school, Puan Kamariah, quipped that the best place to get a farewell was in schools. How true!

The farewell that school security guard K. Kittu received in SK Bandar Baru Putera, Ipoh, recently, takes the cake.

ALSO READ: Warm, emotional send-off for Ipoh primary school security guard

The video of the event went viral late last year, with netizens praising “Uncle Kittu” for being so well-loved that he received a send-off that would have done even a principal of a premier school proud.

Salutations to this guard who could unite and open the hearts of the teachers, pupils and parents of all races and backgrounds.

It is the ordinary, down-to-earth and selfless people like Kittu who prove that the right attitude and behaviour towards others is what truly defines a person – not how qualified or high-ranking one is. And that is what real education is all about.

In this present dog-eat-dog world where people go to extremes to get what they want at all cost, there is still a place for jewels like Kittu to prove to the rest of the world that goodness and kindness still exist.

The wonderful lyrics of the 1970 song “Try a Little Kindness” by Glen Campbell best sums up the character of Kittu:

... If you try a little kindness

Then you’ll overlook the blindness

Of narrow-minded people on the narrow-minded streets Lend a helping hand instead of doubt

And the kindness that you show every day

Will help someone along the way. When you treat people with kindness, it is reciprocated. The feeling of happiness and satisfaction written all over Kittu’s face on his farewell day is priceless. It probably supersedes the wealth of many others.

THIAGAN MATHIAPARANAM

Klang