How an act of kindness can change your world…

About three years ago I was advised to google a name of a person if I wanted to know more about that person with whom I had lost contact over more than 25 years. The result of pushing a few buttons on my computer was amazing and overwhelming. My youth friend had become a surgeon and a tropical doctor who had chosen for a career with an organization called “Medical Checks for Children” and visited the poorest countries of our world. “Why is that so amazing?”, you might think. Well, when you sat in first grade of primary school, your teacher might have asked you what you want to become when you grow up. My friend who was 7 years of old said: “I want to become a doctor and go help people in development countries”. For myself, I was going to be a pilot and fly her to these countries. But then again, which boy doesn’t want to become a pilot, fireman or policeman?

If you have found a person on the internet, you may be able to read a lot about that person, but getting in touch with him/her is a totally different story. With some trouble I could get in touch with someone of “Medical Checks for Children” and ask if my old friend could contact me on my telephone number. It might not surprise you that I didn’t get any reaction, but the flame had caught within me and I really wanted to contact Karlien, because she happened to be the first love of my life as well. After more than a year and several e-mails, she responded to me and I thought: “Now we can get together again”. Unfortunately it didn’t turn out to be that easy. We had made two appointments to meet each other in March 2009. She had to cancel both appointments because of her work as a surgeon. Then I didn’t hear from her for months. Meanwhile I had written to a Dutch TV show called “memories”, this being the only TV show Karlien ever watches, if our story could be a story for them as well. In august I received an e-mail from Karlien which stated that she had made a pilgrimage by foot from the Netherlands to Santiago de Compostella in Spain. She had called it some kind of sabbatical. Again I was amazed and surprised with her actions. Maybe you can also imagine my surprise that the Dutch TV station indeed was interested in our story and wanted to interview me on the subject of doing a program with their show. Still it was my conviction that nothing would come out of it…

Choosing Not To Look Away

Homeless people in our communities are a fact of life, especially in big cities. Many of us don’t know how to interpret this situation or what we can do to help. We may vacillate between feeling guilty, as if we are personally responsible, and feeling angry, as if it is entirely on their own shoulders. The situation is, of course, far more complex than either scenario. Still, not knowing how to respond, we may fall into the habit of not responding at all. We may look over their heads not making eye contact, or down at the ground as we pass, falling into a habit of ignoring them. Each time we do this, we disconnect ourselves from a large portion of the human family, and it doesn’t feel right.

Most of us know in our hearts that the homeless and the poor are not so very different from us. They may be the victims of poor planning or an unavoidable crisis. Some of them are mentally ill, some are addicted to drugs or alcohol, and some are choosing to be homeless for reasons we may never understand. We can imagine that, given their lives, we would likely have ended up in the same place. This does not mean that we are meant to rescue them, as they are on their own learning path, but it does remind us that we can treat them as equals, because that is what they are. Even if we aren’t able to offer food, shelter, or money, we can offer a blessing as we pass. We can look them in the eye and acknowledge our shared humanness, even if we don’t know just how to help them. This simple act of kindness and silent or spoken blessings can be so helpful to those living on the street.

If you want to help with information, you can learn about the services in your area and share the locations of food banks, shelters, and other resources. Perhaps your family would like to have a plan ahead of time, talking with your children about how as a family you would like to handle these situations. Whatever you decide to do, you will feel much better when you make a conscious choice not to simply look away.

Reprinted with permission from DailyOM.com – Inspirational thoughts for a happy, healthy and fulfilling day. Register for free at www.dailyom.com © 2004-2010 DailyOM -All Rights Reserved.

• “A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.”
  ~ Charles H. Spurgeon

• “Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you – not because they are nice, but because you are.”
  ~Author Unknown

• “Never miss an opportunity to make others happy, even if you have to leave them alone in order to do it.”~ Author Unknown