Each person in the world has an opportunity to touch the lives of others. Their impact can affect them in a postive way – or negative, depending on intent and action. What groups they join will determine their outcome.
In most communities, there are groups of individuals who come together with the intention of a improving the community as a whole. That goal typically is designed to impact the small world immediately around them in a positive, meaningful way.
For me, I have been drawn to reaching out to help the poor or forgotten in the community. The widows, those who have lost the means to support themselves, the ones hidden in the shadows but are seeking help to overcome their dire situations.
The first encounter…
A very long time ago, I was walking the streets of San Francisco with a friend of mine. We were admiring the vendors and talking to each other as friends are wont to do.
In the doorway of one of the brick buildings, I came across a man who had the bottom half his body missing. He was strapped to a 2’x2′ board that rolled about on a set of black caster wheels. In his hand was a cup for donations.
I was stunned. And I didn’t exactly know what to do. I glanced quickly at him, gave a quick smile, and passed on. I wondered how he survived. Yet I didn’t take the time to know his story.
Truly my greatest loss.
I was stunned. And I didn’t exactly know what to do.
But I never forgot him.
And in my uncertainty, I began to ruminate on his condition and the impact his gentle face had on my own life.
And on what I didn’t do.
I basically ignored him. And I never forgot that.
Future forward…
After many years, I encountered my own trials. A few people came to surround me and help me after my husband died. But, for the most part, I had to learn to raise myself up by my own bootstraps and survive with little income, and two young tots under the age of 2.
It taught me the hardships of making poor decisions with money, losing everything in the process. We lived the home of a friend – a roach infested house, filled with animal fecal matter and holes in the floor – in order to survive until I could find a place of our own. Their generosity wasn’t overlooked, but it scared me to see just how far we had sunk.
We moved to an apartment that was near one of the worst places in the city. Gun shots were heard nightly nearby, and an apartment across the parking lot was raided when the cops busted a child porn ring – all the while the mother of one of the victims was leading her little, beautiful daughter into the hornet’s nest to be molested for money.
It gave good insight into the lives of those forgotten.
And I was among those forgotten.
So was that little girl. The one who now is an adult somewhere dealing with the trauma of her mother’s actions.
Payback…
So now I give where I am able. Working for local outreach centers, supporting their causes, working in the distribution center of a food bank, and trying to start an outreach of our own through our church.
Community service is necessary. We live in a country of wealth, but that economic stability is rapidly disintigrating before our very eyes.
Human beings living in tents along the sides of freeways was unheard of when I was young. Work was not hard to get as the country was in a time of prosperity.
But in the late 1960’s-early 1970’s, everything changed.
Job security and retirement certainty disappeared. The economy flatlined as changes in our country began to show cracks in our stability.
Jobs were lost, long lines and rationing for fueling cars was a reality, and no one knew exactly what to do. The government had succeeded in doing its part to exacerbate the problems and has not ceased to interfere from that time on.
Now is the time…
But human beings still survived. And we all still exist. Our needs have not changed, but our outlook has soured.
Working to help restore the dignity of the impoverished and give them hope comes at a cost. And that cost depends on the sacrifice of those who freely give of their time, money, and resources to the community.
My choice in how that appears may not look like someone else’s. But each one of us holds an opportunity to reach out and give to those less fortuntate.
Take the time to see what talents you can share. Perhaps it is to fill buckets of cleaning supplies at your company, as I had done. Or to work in a soup kitchen on days that are not the holidays. (People are hungry at more than just Thanksgiving and Christmas.) Or maybe you can supply the local food bank with canned goods or acceptable new clothing or supplies. Or maybe set aside a certain amount each month to give to your local charity.
No matter what it is or how tiny the amount of time or resources you have to spare, the best way to help is to do it.
Start somewhere. Even the smallest effort will reap great rewards to those in need.