This week
is kind of a series, I guess, which I have been doing a lot lately. So, if you
guess that tomorrow's title will incorporate "charity" in some
way, you get a gold star.
If there
are things about the "white Santa" thing that are irritating or sad
or befuddling, that's just part of humanity. It's popular in some circles to
blame religion, but these are things that come up in non-religious contexts
too. Really, the issue is human nature, and one of its ugly sides is the tendency
to create divisions and pick out who does and does not belong.
For all of
the hostility and ignorance and stubbornness, there is more to the story. There
is kindness, beauty, and moments of sweet surprises. Here are some of the
things that have lifted my heart this year.
I really
didn't think there was any way he could still be alive. He was old,
disoriented, and without a cell phone. But they found him. Even with his
confusion issues, he was able to do what he needed to do to stay alive, and
they may have a reason for the confusion now. Sometimes things go much better
than we could ever expect.
I was
initially surprised that the makeovers were outlandish instead of attractive,
because that's the normal thing, but no, it was perfect that they were
outlandish. Feeling attractive is nice, and when you have been sick and losing
your hair and the chemo is causing issues with your weight and skin, it
probably would be appreciated. They did something different here, and they caused
surprise.
Maybe the
subjects were expecting to look conventionally good, and that would have
deadened the impact. What they got was something that was so thoroughly
unexpected that it stopped everything, and for a moment it brought relief.
Priceless.
There are a
couple of different things here. The initial man's gift of the laptop and
textbook and coding lessons is good, and that he saw something in the man, but
there is more. There was also a new friend, and other people looking out for
him. That is good. That the app he is working on is something to help the
environment is good too. What problems would be solved if more people had
access to unlock their potential for solving problems?
Of course,
there is also the story of him being arrested and losing his laptop, because he
is homeless, which, while it does show some good in others, highlights that we
do not have good policies in place for the homeless. However, seeing his story,
and realizing his potential, makes this next story even more intriguing:
How about
that? Giving with no strings attached is cheaper and more effective than the
current system. Perhaps it's a good reminder that it is much harder to replace
something that is lost than to maintain it, so boosting people past that spot
of getting into a home again is huge.
Of course
time lost cannot be replaced, which makes this article particularly
discouraging:
Okay, there
is healing possible, but to know that there are patterns and stresses built in
that add so much hardship to a developing child is a sickening thing,
literally.
But even
here there is hope, because of what they say about "serve and
return"; that ultimately to pay attention, to let children, and people,
know that we see them, and acknowledge them, that is our most basic need and it
is completely possible to provide.
Okay, one
more story, and I love this one:
First of
all, thinking about the logistics of that, and that they managed to pull it
off, is amazing in itself.
I shared it
with someone, and I knew her response would be (and it was), "Why doesn't
stuff like that ever happen to us?"
And you
know, this was a one-time thing, I am sure. It was great for everyone who
participated - even the guy who just asked for socks and underwear seemed
really touched at getting them - but that's not the norm, and no, I was not on
that flight.
However, I
live in a world where that happened. Someone got the idea, someone approved it
despite expenses, and people worked to make it happen. And I live in a world
where someone sees something in a homeless man, and taught him to code. I live
in a world where a whole team of people worked to give some cancer patients a
moment of forgetting and turned it into art.
Therefore, I
live in a world where a multitude of good things can and do happen, making it
possible that any number of good things can happen to me.
Leave some
room for hope.
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