The season is now upon us during which many give extra attention to the welfare of others. Each December we ritualize the spirit of the "season" through volunteerism, charitable giving, and other gestures of good. It is with kindness we fill each of these 30 or so days on our calendars so that on the other 335 we can "take a break" from it. Backward logic, perhaps, but it seems to work...at least for most of us.
Why this doesn't work for me, however, is the same reason it doesn't work for those who are so in need of our good will: neediness does not schedule itself around the Christian (or any other religion's) calendar. And, in most cases, it is not a "part-time" condition. Whether someone is hungry, or sick, or homeless, or abused, or disabled, or poor, they are often suffering during something other than a short-term timetable. In other words, these and the thousands of other afflictions and predicaments people find themselves with are often long-lasting (and, only rarely, able to be conveniently scheduled into a 30-day stint).
Why do we not put coins and bills into the metal buckets of the Salvation Army in the spring time? Why do we not wrap gifts in July to nestle under evergreen trees for families in need? And why, oh why, do we not sing songs of joy and peace and brotherhood on each and every day of the year?
Don't get me wrong...seasonal giving is vitally important. It does good for millions all over the world each and every year. I just can't help but think what a different place our planet would be if we could carry that spiritual generosity, that pious sympathy, that Christian goodness with us during the other eleven months, when just as many mouths are hungry, when just as many abused are scared, when just as many diseases are making just as many sick, and when just as many lives are critically at stake.
Do something good, big or small, for another...each and every day.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
A Helping Hand
We have but one chance to get it right. One very small window during which any one of us is here, present, alive...and, thus, able to make a "difference." The time any one of us is here on this Earth is so small in comparison to the whole existence of this celestial body, it barely warrants a mention. It is, however, our time.
During this time we have choices to make, wishes to fulfill, desires upon which to act or not. What makes us choose the downhill roads, the smooth sailing seas, the paths of least resistance? On these too-traveled trips, only rarely do we find the journeys that reward us, that fulfill us, that transform us.
Do you suppose that anyone ever lies in their death bed, reflecting on their life, wishing that they had done less to help others, or full of regret from doing too many unselfish acts, or insane with guilt over the many good deeds they performed over their years?
Yesterday a very important person in my life found herself in a horrible, frightening, dangerous situation, one in which she could only yell and scream and hope for another to lend a hand, to risk his or her own well-being only for the well-being of someone else. In such a helpless situation, one realizes how we are each dependent, in one form or another, on others in our lives...friends, loved-ones, and strangers alike.
On this day, though, sadly, her cries went unnoticed, unattended, unanswered. Was the neighborhood street upon which she screamed deserted? Was each house in that neighborhood empty, unoccupied, without life? Unlikely. What is likely, and, to be most accurate, the truth, is this: there was no incentive for anyone to provide her with the assistance she so desperately needed, at least no incentive beyond the goodness one should feel in coming to the aide of another, a stranger. But, there was nothing beyond this in it for those who may have heard her screams, who may have seen her situation. Faced with a choice to act selflessly or sit easily, those with the opportunity to choose chose the latter.
Fortunately, the worst did not happen. This dear person who innocently found herself in a very unwelcome predicament was spared. Unfortunately, what spared her was not the goodness of another. On this day, there was no such goodness.
I'm not sure what it is in too many of us that makes it possible, even easy, to turn away from someone in dire need. What part of us is made to think only of ourselves, or, at best, those close to us? Why does our compassion fall short? What quiets our voice? How is our physical strength weakened? Why do each of these virtues we are bestowed too often not extend themselves indiscriminately?
I offer no answers to these questions. Perhaps, in just asking the questions, something good will come. Perhaps those who read them, who ponder them, will dissect them, absorb them, and refute them through their future actions. If only it could be that simple. If only we could change our ways by just having someone ask more of us, expect more from us, depend on us the next time someone is in need.
It is a noble thing to help a fellow human being who is in great need.
Extend your hand to someone who has fallen. Listen and respond to a cry for help. Risk yourself to save another.
Years from now, lying on your death bed, you will not regret that you did.
During this time we have choices to make, wishes to fulfill, desires upon which to act or not. What makes us choose the downhill roads, the smooth sailing seas, the paths of least resistance? On these too-traveled trips, only rarely do we find the journeys that reward us, that fulfill us, that transform us.
Do you suppose that anyone ever lies in their death bed, reflecting on their life, wishing that they had done less to help others, or full of regret from doing too many unselfish acts, or insane with guilt over the many good deeds they performed over their years?
Yesterday a very important person in my life found herself in a horrible, frightening, dangerous situation, one in which she could only yell and scream and hope for another to lend a hand, to risk his or her own well-being only for the well-being of someone else. In such a helpless situation, one realizes how we are each dependent, in one form or another, on others in our lives...friends, loved-ones, and strangers alike.
On this day, though, sadly, her cries went unnoticed, unattended, unanswered. Was the neighborhood street upon which she screamed deserted? Was each house in that neighborhood empty, unoccupied, without life? Unlikely. What is likely, and, to be most accurate, the truth, is this: there was no incentive for anyone to provide her with the assistance she so desperately needed, at least no incentive beyond the goodness one should feel in coming to the aide of another, a stranger. But, there was nothing beyond this in it for those who may have heard her screams, who may have seen her situation. Faced with a choice to act selflessly or sit easily, those with the opportunity to choose chose the latter.
Fortunately, the worst did not happen. This dear person who innocently found herself in a very unwelcome predicament was spared. Unfortunately, what spared her was not the goodness of another. On this day, there was no such goodness.
I'm not sure what it is in too many of us that makes it possible, even easy, to turn away from someone in dire need. What part of us is made to think only of ourselves, or, at best, those close to us? Why does our compassion fall short? What quiets our voice? How is our physical strength weakened? Why do each of these virtues we are bestowed too often not extend themselves indiscriminately?
I offer no answers to these questions. Perhaps, in just asking the questions, something good will come. Perhaps those who read them, who ponder them, will dissect them, absorb them, and refute them through their future actions. If only it could be that simple. If only we could change our ways by just having someone ask more of us, expect more from us, depend on us the next time someone is in need.
It is a noble thing to help a fellow human being who is in great need.
Extend your hand to someone who has fallen. Listen and respond to a cry for help. Risk yourself to save another.
Years from now, lying on your death bed, you will not regret that you did.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
DAY 1
What's going on on this planet? Who's looking after us? Who's helping those most in need? Who's checking the power of those least in need? As we spin, spin, spin around in circles so too does our progress...at least the progress that matters most. True, we keep making the computer smaller and smarter and better. But, why can we not do that of ourselves? Why can we not make our own egos smaller? Why can we not make our own minds smarter? Why can we not make our own world better?
True, there are too many injustices and travesties and crises for any one being to tackle all at once. But the billions of us working together? How can there be anything we cannot overcome, solve, better, or cure? It seems when we really want to, when it's all on the line, we certainly can and do. So, who decides what is and is not worthy of such collaboration? Our leaders? Those whom, purportedly, we elect? Are they deciding for us? Are they making the right decisions? Are they really leading? Why do we leave it to them to take or to not take action? What is it about our own eyes that cannot see the need? What is it about our own ears that cannot hear the cries for help, for justice, for action?
And our leaders?... For what, exactly, are they advocating? Who are they watching over, looking out for, saving? And, do the causes change as the leaders are traded and exchanged and replaced? Or, are many of the causes, needs, and issues constant, only growing in breadth and scope as the days and weeks and years pass? If, indeed, the powers that be are the same, the same, the same, why must this be acceptable to us? If they only have different smiles, wear different political badges, and engage in different rhetoric, but are all, at best, only slightly varied versions of one another, how can we keep lining up at the polls? When will this cycle of "believability" have run its course?
Each person on this planet deserves hope, a chance, a voice. And, the planet itself, deserves our combined attention, efforts, and care. We are here to live and to laugh and to love...but we are here. So, while we are here living and laughing and loving, is it too much for us to also see that others can do the same? Has it become too much to extend a hand to a fellow human in need? Has it become too much to speak out in the face of injustice? Has it become too much to care deeply for the very soil on which we walk and work and play?
There is, indeed, too much in this wide world for just one voice. One voice, however, screaming loudly and often, can surely invoke other voices to join, to help, to care, to act.
I will post daily on something of importance to me or on something of importance to someone else or on something of importance to us as a whole. I encourage others to do the same, here, on this blog.
Join with me.
Open your eyes, your ears, and you mind.
True, there are too many injustices and travesties and crises for any one being to tackle all at once. But the billions of us working together? How can there be anything we cannot overcome, solve, better, or cure? It seems when we really want to, when it's all on the line, we certainly can and do. So, who decides what is and is not worthy of such collaboration? Our leaders? Those whom, purportedly, we elect? Are they deciding for us? Are they making the right decisions? Are they really leading? Why do we leave it to them to take or to not take action? What is it about our own eyes that cannot see the need? What is it about our own ears that cannot hear the cries for help, for justice, for action?
And our leaders?... For what, exactly, are they advocating? Who are they watching over, looking out for, saving? And, do the causes change as the leaders are traded and exchanged and replaced? Or, are many of the causes, needs, and issues constant, only growing in breadth and scope as the days and weeks and years pass? If, indeed, the powers that be are the same, the same, the same, why must this be acceptable to us? If they only have different smiles, wear different political badges, and engage in different rhetoric, but are all, at best, only slightly varied versions of one another, how can we keep lining up at the polls? When will this cycle of "believability" have run its course?
Each person on this planet deserves hope, a chance, a voice. And, the planet itself, deserves our combined attention, efforts, and care. We are here to live and to laugh and to love...but we are here. So, while we are here living and laughing and loving, is it too much for us to also see that others can do the same? Has it become too much to extend a hand to a fellow human in need? Has it become too much to speak out in the face of injustice? Has it become too much to care deeply for the very soil on which we walk and work and play?
There is, indeed, too much in this wide world for just one voice. One voice, however, screaming loudly and often, can surely invoke other voices to join, to help, to care, to act.
I will post daily on something of importance to me or on something of importance to someone else or on something of importance to us as a whole. I encourage others to do the same, here, on this blog.
Join with me.
Open your eyes, your ears, and you mind.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)