Go.Forth.Serve!

I love that l have had several profound life lessons that have made me into who I am. As a high school student some fourteen years ago in Boston I remember this lesson as if it happened yesterday.

I was waiting for the bus on a cold Massachusetts day with an elderly gentleman who seemed to be either intoxicated or high. He was disheveled and rather homeless looking and for some reason he had difficulty maintaining his balance so he was leaning against a newspaper stand. He kept sliding off of it and just when you thought he might fall he managed to swing himself back on top of the stand.

I watched him warily, my first instinct was to help him, but I was thrown off by his appearance and unsure if my help would have been welcomed. I am still humbled by what happened next. A car drove by slowly and an older man rolled down his window and admonished me. He said something like, “don’t just stand there, do something!” I am sure he said more but that’s all I could remember.

I soon spun into action and when the bus arrived the bus driver called the dispatcher and help was on the way. This man needed help and I was too concerned about myself to help him. It’s as if I needed someone to give me permission to help this man. Since that day, I really revel at every opportunity to help and I try to deal with that inner voice that tells me ‘you’re gonna look stupid’. Our perceptions of people become real roadblocks, just like I perceived the man to be drunk when he probably had a serious medical situation. Many of these perceptions are based on stereotypes that end up preventing us from being truly compassionate and loving beings.

We are doing important work in Kenya, mentoring the youth and we need your encouragement and support. Please be moved to act, with us or any other organization. There is so much need in the world and it seems that we are all standing on the sidelines waiting for something to happen that will push us into action. Well, here it goes: Go. Forth. Make a difference!