Random Act of Kindness Multiplies Itself BIG time!
The Backgrounder: OIM sponsors the 8:00 am and 5:00 pm news on a local radio station, CHRI 99.1 fm. For one of our 60 second spots, I interviewed a young lady (we’ll call her Rachel) from our Passion for Youth art program. In this interview, she commented on how much she enjoyed participating in the program, so much so that she says that she dosen’t even think of drugs while she is involved in the program. This is quite remarkable, really!
The Story: So Rachel came to our office to get some stuff and stays a moment for a visit. She told me this story:
Part 1: She was panhandling on the street when a kind lady offered to buy her some supper. She agreed and the two of them had an enjoyable time together. She felt special because a.) she was noticed, b.) the time over a meal brought a sense of dignity, and c.) somebody actually cared.
Part 2: Two days later, this same lady comes by and Rachel is at the same spot, panhandling. She stops and chats, one of the first questions she asked was: “Was that you that I heard on the radio? I recognize your voice. That was great!”
Rachel’s face beamed with joy as she answered in the affirmative. Imagine, someone recognized her!!
This is huge! We might get a kick of being on the radio, but for Rachel, this is so much bigger. In her part in this little story, she was recognized not just a panhandler, or even as a person who might be ‘down and out’ for the time being. She was someone who was recognized for making a larger, positive contribution to a good cause! Mabye even informing and influencing the way that radio listeners think about people caught in the web of poverty and homelessness.
She was radiant as she recounted this story.
It might be hard to imagine just how much of an impact this would be for someone who calls the streets their home. Think of it for a moment: 24/7 you are struggling to survive, just trying to make it to the next day; the past continually comes before your mind: harsh words (”You are such a loser! You’ll never amount to anything! You are worthless trash!); every imaginable form of abuse (from abusive parents and relatives, residential school system, etc); multiple foster homes; struggling to survive, and well… you fill in the gaps.
THEN someone comes up to you in the midst of your despair and darkened world and brings a burning magnesium light of hope and glory, and says, “Hey, was that you I heard on the radio? I recognized your voice. That was great!”
You never can know the full impact of such positive words and affirmation. It just might be enough to change someone’s life!
Haiti – All about perspective
Andre grimmaces as he describes his personal agony about Haiti. His pain is evident in his countenance. Twice in our conversation, he has to stop talking and choke back the emotion.
“We have so much here. We are so rich. We have so much.”
Haiti is an unfathomable tragedy. It’s almost surreal, and we are overwhelmed in our thinking by the devastation. The magnitude of destruction and carnage is almost an incomprehensible reality. I can’t imagine what people are experiencing or what they are going through. Everything has been shaken, and people are filled with fear that there may be more to come.
Andre’s words and compassion speak to me. His concern is deepened by his own personal story. He suffers from severe clinical depression, and there have been times when he will go for days without sleeping or eating. Sometimes he is quite beside himself with anxiety and worry. His family has ostricized him, even refusing to take him with them in their car to bury his mother. He has overcome a cocaine habit, but still struggles to take his medication and maintain his own health. He is all alone.
He sits across the table from me, and I marvel at how he is moved with empathy for the Haitians. How someone so impoverished and traumatized in his own personal life, can be so moved with such a deep compassion for others, is an enigma for me. I am dwarfed in comparison to my friend. His selflessness, concern and thoughtfulness for others is miles above and beyond my own.
We walk past people like my friend Andre on the streets all the time and we often look down on them. Why don’t they just get up and get a job? Why can’t they be responsible for their lives? Sometimes we might throw some loose change in a ball cap, but it’s more to alleviate our guilt and make ourselves feel better than to make any lasting change in their lives. We categorize and generalize. We become smug in our complacency, our materialism and self-absorbtion. We miss it, and we miss out.
There are people that do care. At OIM we currently have 91 active volunteers on the roster, and our Urban Intervention Training course (beginning January 30) is filling up fast.
One hundred percent of the time new volunteers come to us to ‘help the poor’ and ‘make transformational changes’ in their lives.
Another one hundred percent of the time: Three weeks after these same volunteers are involved in serving our street friends, they realize that it’s not about their ‘giving’ at all – instead it’s all about how they have become the recipients of blessing and growth themselves. One hundred percent of the time.