A MATTER OF COMPASSION
“We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.”
– Sir Winston Churchill
It happened in Bozeman almost two decades ago when I visited my sister Elena and her family, who were living in Livingston, Montana. But I could still remember it well.
I was on my way back to the Philippines. My sister brought me to the Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport and after saying goodbyes, I went inside the airport. The line was not that long, unlike those in the Philippines. There were about twelve people queueing, including me.
I was totally shocked when the man in-front of me was Hollywood actor Dennis Quaid (yes, the man who appeared in such movies as Breaking Away, The Right Stuff, The Parent Trap, The Day After Tomorrow, and Far from Heaven). He was wearing a jacket and didn’t bring anything.
In front of him was a chubby lady who was bringing a lot of bags and luggage. Seeing that she was having a hard time, Quaid asked: “Can I help you bring some of your bags?”
The woman looked at him and without hesitation, she gave at least two bags to Quaid. He placed them on his shoulder and everything went fine.
We were inside the waiting area and I couldn’t help but wonder. “Do you know her?” I asked him. “No,” he replied. “But she needs help!”
Quaid may be rich and famous but he is also a human being. He understands well when someone needs help. “Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind,” Henry James reminded.
Until now, I couldn’t forget what Quaid had done. “A random act of kindness, no matter how small, can make a tremendous impact on someone’s life,” Roy T. Bennett wrote in The Light in the Heart.
I was searching on the internet about helping others and I came across these beautiful words. I don’t know who wrote it but I am sharing it here:
“The world we live in today has been through a lot of things from world wars to epidemics, but one thing which remained constant throughout was resilience and kindness. Moreover, it was the spirit to fight back and help out each other.”
The unknown author considered kindness “an essential and universal quality to make the world a better place.”
“Through an essay on kindness, we will go through it in detail. Kindness towards nature, animals and other people has the ability to transform the world and make it a beautiful place for living. But it is also important to remember that kindness towards you is also essential for personal growth.”
Kindness in the form of help is likewise essential. No matter how small or big your help is, just help. Don’t stop what you have started. Listen to the words of Mohamed Al-Fayed, “I will continue to distribute blankets, sleeping bags, warm clothing and food on a regular basis, in the hope that my modest efforts will give some comfort to those people we are able to help.”
I was reminded of the story in the Bible about the good Samaritan. I know it is very familiar; it has been used by priests and pastors in their sermons. But I like the one expounded by Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?'”
Nobel Peace laureate Mother Teresa also reminded us: “At the end of life, we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done. We will be judged by, ‘I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in.'”
“The purpose of life,” said American senator Robert F. Kennedy, “is to contribute in some way to making things better.”
There was this anecdote of a father who brought her two daughters to his favorite upscale restaurant. He and his wife are regular customers and he knows it is pricey but so worth it. Today, he was together with his two daughters as the wife was in a meeting.
At the adjacent table, there was a woman in her 40s celebrating something, along with two gentlemen in their 60s. “We did not converse and only saw them occasionally looking our way,” the father said.
The father and his two daughters were waiting for their dessert when the group left. When the waiter brought our dessert, he told the father that the adjacent table had already paid their bill.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this before so I’m really taking the kind gesture to heart, already wondering what I can do for someone else,” the father said. “Moreover, it was special for my children to witness what happened and see how a small act can mean a lot.”
The words of John Bunyan comes handy: “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”
The best way to make things better is for us to give. It is better to give than to receive, so goes a popular saying. By giving, you are open to receive more. For as Florence Scovel Shinn said, “Giving opens the way for receiving.”
And “no one has ever become poor by giving,” said Anne Frank. And these words from Robert South are more apt: “If there be any truer measure of a man than by what he does, it must be by what he gives.”
You may be the only one giving but don’t stop. There is power in one. As Edward Everett Hale puts it: “I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.”
When you help and give others, you are making this world a better place to live. Be sure that when you do so, do it with pleasure.
In most instances, people equate pleasure with happiness. There might be truth to it. The thing is: people are always trying to find happiness. To be happy, some obtain wealth; others travel around the world. There are those who find happiness in the fame they gain while there are those who get it from having it all.
Most of those happiness don’t last long. But the happiness you get when you help others is never ending. “If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap,” a Chinese proverb reminds us. ” If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.”
