On my way home from NC a few weeks ago, while I was standing at my gate, looking back at the escalator longingly and making homesick posts on facebook, there was a couple nearby me getting their suitcases in order and preparing to board. The man was in a wheelchair, and the woman was handing him luggage to put in his lap because she couldn’t push both the suitcases and him. While I was watching absently, this other old man from all the way down the row got up, came over, and asked the lady if she could use some help. And she smiled in relief and said yes.
My first impulse was to mentally kick myself. That should
have been me! I’m younger, I was right here; why didn’t I help? But then a
warming thought sprouted in my heart: “Isn’t it nice that when you were
distracted, someone else stepped up and did it? That you don’t have to always
be the one to help?” Oh gosh, yes. Yes, it is. The world would be in dire
straits if we all depended on one person to get all the problems fixed. There
are too many people and problems in the world, I don’t have enough time, and then
there are things like having the right skills or prior personal connection or
being in the right place at the right time—the whole idea is ludicrous. On a
more sober note, helping other people is something everyone needs--as much as I
love it, it’s incredibly good for /everybody/ to get the opportunity to
practice seeing other people’s needs, extending themselves for them, and
feeling happy when somebody else is happy. That fulfills a part of our
humanity. That's the way we were made.
Moving on, the end of my story: I got to have my private
moment when I needed it, and still someone was helped. It was a wonderful
moment that that man will never realize happened. And I wanted to mention it
because this weekend, realizing that what I wanted for my birthday wasn't to have something so much as to be something, I drove down to Bluff
Springs to help Austin Disaster Relief and Mormon Helping Hands with the
cleanup from the flood a few weeks ago--in time to see tired volunteers coming
back after having worked all day ripping up tile and cutting down rotting
drywall and insulation. I didn't get to do very much myself, but it was a
heartening thing to see how many people willingly came from all over for this,
many who'd only heard about the event by word of mouth or because it was
mentioned at their churches. People who did really physically demanding stuff,
and people who did mundane, non-ego-validating stuff. Like honeybees together,
wonderful things happen: not because the task isn't monumental, but because
when people care more about their community than their own convenience they can
chip away at those things that are ugly and hard and with imperceptible work
make grand improvements. You know who you are, even if I don't, and you're the
reason the world is a beautiful place. =)
Thanks to all those who serve. You give me the ability to do
good and the strength that I follow.
